Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ūlü Fā‘ilātü Mefā‘īlü Fā‘ilün

Kūyın ṭoḳuz ṭolan yüri iy dil o bāba baṣ
Rif‘atde pāyuñı bu ṭoḳuz ḳat ḳıbāba baṣ
Serv öykünürse ḳaddüñe pāyuñ şikest ḳıl
Gül ‘arż iderse ḥüsnini yüzin türāba baṣ
Telḫ itdi meclisi ḳo yaḳılsun raḳīb-i ḫar
Billāh sāḳiyā ṭolular ṣun şarāba baṣ
Gül-gūn-ı eşke gözlerüm oldı rikāb-ı lā‘l
İy şeh-süvār pāyuñı lā‘līn rikāba baṣ
Nūr-ı baṣarsın iki gözüm tenden olma dūr
Ḫāk olmuşam yoluñda bu çeşm-i pür-āba baṣ
Derd ehlinüñ ṭabībisin el-ḥaḳ ‘ilāc ḳıl
Engüşti muṭribā yine ba‘żı rebāba baṣ
Ol serv-çihreñe diler iseñ ḳadem baṣa
Rūy-ı niyāzı ṣu gibi Fażlī türāba baṣ

In English

1. O heart, go, set foot at that door round whose street the nine (spheres) revolve; in loftiness set your foot on this nine-layered dome. (The words "Kūyın ṭoḳuz ṭolan" can also be understood as "one who circles his street nine times".)

2. If the cypress imitates your stature, break its foot; if the rose displays its beauty (against yours), press its face into the dust.

3. The donkey of a rival has soured the gathering, let him burn; for God's sake, O cupbearer, pour brimming (cups), press on with the wine.

4. With rose-coloured tears my eyes have become a stirrup of ruby; O master horseman, set your foot in (this) ruby stirrup.

5. You are the light of my two eyes, do not go far from the body; I have become dust on your road, set your foot on this tear-filled eye.

6. O musician, truly you are the physician of those in pain; give a cure, press your finger again on some (frets) of the rebab.

7. O Fazlî, if you wish to set foot (to reach) that cypress-formed beauty, press the face of entreaty to the dust, like water.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a ghazal (gazel) of seven couplets, written in the "mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün" pattern of the muzâri family of aruz (quantitative metre). The redif (refrain word) is the verb "baṣ" (set foot, press) and takes the form "-a baṣ" (set foot on) with the dative suffix; Özkat counts this ghazal among those whose redif is made up of a suffix and a Turkish word. The rhyme is formed by the sound "-āb" in the words "bāb, ḳıbāb, türāb, şarāb, rikāb, pür-āb, rebāb"; the word "türāb" (earth, dust) rhymes twice, in the second and seventh couplets. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. The ghazal is the hundred and fifth in Özkat's edition and is found only in the Fazlî divan section (fol. 244a) of the miscellany in the Hazine collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum Library. It is not known to whom or when it was written.

The ghazal is written in the same metre, redif and rhyme as ghazal a hundred and four, which precedes it in the edition; the opening couplets of both have the image of setting foot on the nine heavens, and the two stand on the same leaf of the miscellany. But while the preceding ghazal gives its counsels to the heart in a mystical manner, the weight of this ghazal lies in requests addressed to the beloved, the cupbearer and the musician. This comparison is our own observation.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet is obscure; the words "Kūyın ṭoḳuz ṭolan" can be understood to mean that the nine spheres revolve round the beloved's street, and can also be read as someone who circles his street nine times. The phrase "ṭoḳuz ḳat ḳıbāb" (the nine-layered dome) in the second line supports the first reading; this is our own interpretation. In the second couplet the cypress that imitates the beloved and the rose that flaunts its beauty are punished: the cypress's foot is to be broken and the rose's face pressed into the dust. In divan poetry the cypress is likened to the stature and the rose to the cheek; here these comparisons turn into a rivalry. In the third couplet the rival is scorned as a "ḫar" (donkey); he is wished to burn for having soured the gathering, and the cupbearer is called to pour brimming cups. The relation between "telḫ" (bitter) and wine ties the souring of the gathering to its remedy in wine.

In the fourth couplet the lover's eye, reddened by tears of blood, is likened by its ring-like shape to a ruby stirrup; the beloved is a master horseman and is asked to set his foot in this stirrup. In the fifth couplet there is a relation of sound between the word "baṣar" (sight) in "nūr-ı baṣar" (light of the eye) and the verb "baṣ" of the redif; this is our own observation. The lover, become dust, asks the beloved to set his foot on his tear-filled eye. In the sixth couplet the musician is the physician of those in pain; a link is made between the words "ṭabīb" (physician), "‘ilāc" (cure) and "derd" (pain) and the pressing of a finger on the fret of the rebab. The view of music as a cure for the pain of the heart is the ground of this couplet. In the last couplet water is thought of as something that flows by rubbing its face on the earth; the lover too should rub the face of entreaty on the earth, like water.

Bibliography

  • Mustafa Özkat, Kara Fazlî'nin Hayatı, Eserleri, Edebî Kişiliği ve Dîvânı (İnceleme-Tenkitli Metin), MA thesis, Marmara University Institute of Turkic Studies, Istanbul 2005, pp. 346-347, ghazal no. 105 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Hazine, fol. 244a); also p. 69 (redifs) and pp. 119-120 (description of the manuscripts), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.

Online sources