Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilün

Aç gözüñ iy bī-naẓar āyīne-i dünyāya baḳ
Pertev-i ma‘nāyı seyr it ṣūret-i eşyāya baḳ
Ol cemīlüñ ile envār-ı cemāline naẓar
Gülşen-i mīnū ile bu ḳubbe-i ma‘nāya baḳ
Sīne-i zerdümde seyr it dāġ-ı ḫūn-ālūdeyi
Āteş-i sūzānda bitmiş lāle-i ḥamrāya baḳ
Sā‘id-i sīmīnde gör tīġın o zībā berberüñ
Mu‘ciz-i Mūsā’yı seyr eyle yed-i beyżāya baḳ
Zerḳ ile ṣūfīlerüñ itdügi āh u vāhı gör
Şevḳ ile ‘āşıḳlaruñ ḳıldugı hūy u hāya baḳ
Mālik olmaz gevhere deryāya vāṣıl olmayan
Ma‘rifet dürrin dilerseñ ḫāṭır-ı dānāya baḳ
‘Işḳ ile yeğin olup ol Fażli ġavġādan emīn
‘Aḳl ile ḫalḳ içre olan bu ḳuru ġavġāya baḳ

In English

1. O you without insight, open your eyes and look into the mirror of the world; behold the light of meaning in the form of things.

2. Look upon the lights of the beauty of that Beautiful One; look upon the azure garden of the sky and this dome of meaning. (The position of the word "ile" in the first line makes the sentence obscure.)

3. Behold the bloody wound on my yellowed breast; look at the red tulip that has grown in the burning fire.

4. See the razor on the silver arm of that handsome barber; behold the miracle of Moses, look at the "white hand" (yed-i beyzâ).

5. See the sighs and laments the Sufis make in hypocrisy; look at the shouts the lovers raise in rapture.

6. One who does not reach the sea cannot possess the jewel; if you desire the pearl of gnosis, look into the heart of the wise.

7. O Fazlî, grow strong through love and be safe from strife; look at this empty quarrel that goes on among people through reason.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a ghazal (gazel) of seven couplets, written in the "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün" pattern of the remel family of aruz (quantitative metre). The redif (refrain word) is the phrase "-ya baḳ" (look at); 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 "-ā" in the words "dünyā, eşyā, ma‘nā, ḥamrā, beyżā, hāy, dānā, ġavġā". The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. The ghazal is the hundred and tenth in Özkat's edition and is found only in the Fazlî divan section (fol. 245a) of the miscellany in the Hazine collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum Library. It is not known to whom or when it was written.

Özkat counts this ghazal among Fazlî's yek-âhenk ghazals; yek-âhenk is the name given to a ghazal all of whose couplets remain within the same subject and the same tone. Özkat also cites the opening couplet as an example of the poet's mystical and didactic poems on the transience of the world, and says that in poems of this kind Fazlî seeks the truth behind the visible world and does not neglect to criticise the raw Sufis.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Every couplet of the ghazal calls out to the reader with "look", "see", "behold"; the redif thus becomes a summons that wakes an eye that does not know how to see. In the opening couplet the world is a mirror, and the form of things reflects the light of the meaning within them. The mystical idea that visible beings reflect the divine beauty is the ground of this image. In the second couplet the words "cemīl" (beautiful) and "cemāl" (beauty) stand side by side; in the second line "gülşen-i mīnū" is the azure garden of the sky and "ḳubbe-i ma‘nā" the dome of meaning. The position of the word "ile" in the first line makes the sentence obscure; that a word of the line may have dropped out in the transcription is our own conjecture.

In the third couplet the bloody wound on the lover's yellowed breast is likened to the red tulip that grows in the midst of fire; in divan poetry the dark spot at the centre of the tulip is often likened to the burn on the lover's breast. The fourth couplet sets up a scene with a barber: the white arm of the handsome barber and the shining razor in his hand are likened to the hand of Moses that came out pure white from his bosom, the miracle of the "white hand" (yed-i beyzâ). Özkat cites this couplet among the examples in which Fazlî uses the prophets, together with their miracles, as terms of comparison. In the fifth couplet the showy sighs of the Sufis are set against the ardent cries of the lovers; the word "zerḳ" here means hypocrisy.

The sixth couplet is a piece of advice: one who does not dive into the sea cannot reach the pearl, and one who wants the pearl of gnosis must look into the heart of the wise. The words sea, jewel and pearl form a congruence of images (tenasüp). In the last couplet love and reason are set against each other; one who grows strong through love is safe from strife, while reason breeds an endless, empty quarrel among people. The word "ol" in the pen-name couplet has been read as an imperative.

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, p. 349, ghazal no. 110 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Hazine, fol. 245a); also pp. 63-64 (subjects of the ghazals), p. 69 (redifs) and p. 75 (religious and mystical elements), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.

Online sources