Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Gözlerimüz yaşını aħıdup ırmaġ idüben,
Ķayseriyi daħı bu yaşile Baġdâd idelüm.

In English

1. Let us shed the tears of our eyes and make of them a river, and with these tears let us turn Kayseri too into Baghdad (make it as joyful and prosperous as Baghdad).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The couplet is quoted in Nevzat Özkan's article with the reference KBD 446/6 and comes from the ghazal section of the divan. Since its lines do not rhyme, it is not the opening couplet of the ghazal (gazel). As Ergin's edition could not be consulted, the whole ghazal cannot be given; the source does not give the metre either. Kayseri is the city where Kadı Burhaneddin was born and, among the places named in the divan, one of the closest to the poet's life. The poet's divan, its editions and his other poems are discussed in Kadı Burhaneddin: Literary Persona, Divan and Poems.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The couplet opens with one of the commonest hyperboles of divan poetry: the lover's tears are so abundant that they become a river. In Kadı Burhaneddin this hyperbole is tied to an image of a city. As Özkan points out, Baghdad was founded near the Tigris and Kayseri near the Kızılırmak; the poet wishes to shed his tears like a river and turn Kayseri too into a well-watered, joyful Baghdad. According to Özkan, Baghdad in the poet's verse is a prosperous city that gladdens the heart and is always named with praise, as in the proverb "There is no friend like a mother, no land like Baghdad".

The word "daħı" (too) in the line suggests that the poet has turned some other place into Baghdad as well. Indeed, in another couplet quoted by Özkan the poet says "Gözüm yaşını Şâŧ iderem ‘âlemi Baġdâd", that is, he will turn his tears into the Shatt al-Arab and the whole world into Baghdad (KBD 14/3). In this couplet the same image is brought down to his native city. The reading that arises from this relation between the two couplets is our own. It is also striking that the tears enliven a city instead of destroying it: in divan poetry the flood of tears is often named as a deluge that ruins cities, whereas here it is a river that brings prosperity.

Historical Context

Kadı Burhaneddin was born in Kayseri on 8 January 1345 and, after his studies in Egypt, Damascus and Aleppo, returned to Kayseri and became kadı (judge) in his father's place. As Özkan relates, drawing on Yaşar Yücel, after proclaiming his rule the poet besieged Kayseri, where he had been born and raised, in 1385, took the city without a fight and prevented its plunder; Özkan offers the couplet as an expression of this attachment and affection for Kayseri. According to the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Kayseri was, together with Sivas, one of the two centres of the state. The date of the ghazal is not known.

Bibliography

Online sources