Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefā‘īlün Mefā‘īlün Mefā‘īlün Mefā‘īlün

Gül-i ter devridür sāḳī getür ḳanı mey-i ḥamrā
Nice bir zāhid-i yābis mizācıyla ḳuru ġavġā
‘Aceb mi bülbülüñ olsa görenler gülşen-i ḥüsnüñ
Bahār olduḳça artar iy perī dīvāne vü şeydā
‘Aceb ‘ālemde ol ‘ālemden özge var mıdur ‘ālem
Ki ola sāḳi-i maḥbūb destinde mey-i ḥamrā
Bahār eyyāmı gül vaḳti ṣafā hengāmı mül vaḳti
Bu demde tevbe-kār olur mı zāhid ‘āşıḳ-ı rüsvā
Ney āvāzında gūşum çihre-i dilberdedür çeşmüm
Ne pendüñ yiridür ‘aḳluñ ḳanı ṣūfī delü olma
Yine bir tāze dilber sevdi Fażlī şimdi ‘ālemde
Bulınmaz behcet ü ḥüsn ü bahāda hīç aña hem-tā
Lebi mül ‘ārıżı gül ḳaddi serv ü ruḫları lāle
İgen şīrīn igen nāzük igen ra‘nā igen zībā

In English

1. It is the season of the fresh rose; cupbearer, where is the red wine, bring it; how much longer shall we quarrel drily with the ascetic of dry temperament?

2. O fairy, is it any wonder if those who see the rose garden of your beauty become your nightingales? As spring comes, the mad and the lovesick increase.

3. A wonder: is there in the world any world other than that world in which red wine is in the hand of a beloved cupbearer?

4. Days of spring, the time of roses, the hour of delight, the time of wine; O ascetic, does the disgraced lover repent at such a time?

5. My ear is on the voice of the reed flute, my eye on the charmer's face; is this the time for your advice? Where is your reason, O Sufi, do not be mad.

6. Fazlî has once again loved a fresh charmer in the world; in beauty, radiance and worth there is no equal to him.

7. His lip is wine, his cheek a rose, his stature a cypress, his cheeks tulips; so sweet, so delicate, so lovely, so adorned.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a ghazal (gazel) of seven couplets, written in the "mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün" pattern of the hezec family of aruz (quantitative metre). It has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is formed by the sound "-ā/-a" at the end of the words "ḥamrā, ġavġā, şeydā, rüsvā, olma, hem-tā, zībā". In the third couplet the rhyme "mey-i ḥamrā" (red wine) of the opening couplet is repeated. Unusually, the pen name (mahlas) appears not in the last couplet but in the sixth; the last couplet is given to a praise listing the beloved's beauties. The ghazal is the twelfth in Özkat's edition and is found only in the Fazlî divan section (fol. 218b) of the miscellany in the Hazine collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum Library. It is not known to whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal works the opposition of the profligate (rind) and the ascetic (zahid) against a background of spring and wine. Özkat mentions the fifth couplet of this ghazal in four separate places in his study and uses it like a key to Fazlî's poetry. In his view the couplet shows the stance of a poet who stops his ears to the dry counsels of the Sufis, loves pleasure and sees no one but the beloved; this stance suggests that Fazlî cannot be counted a mystical poet but can only be a "rind". Özkat also cites the couplet as an example of utterances close to speech bearing the features of the Türkî-i Basit (Plain Turkish) movement, which arose at the end of the fifteenth century as a reaction to the influence of Persian literature, and of the plain usage that plays on the literal and figurative senses of idioms. Indeed "aḳluñ ḳanı" (where is your reason) and "delü olma" (do not be mad) are words taken from everyday speech; moreover, the words "do not be mad", which the ascetic is wont to say to the profligate, are here turned back on the Sufi.

In the first couplet there is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between "zāhid-i yābis" (the dry ascetic) and "ḳuru ġavġā" (dry quarrel); the ascetic's dryness contrasts with the freshness of the wine and the dewiness of the rose (gül-i ter). In the fourth couplet a pun (cinas) resting on likeness of sound is made between the words "gül" (rose) and "mül" (wine). In the third couplet the word "‘ālem" occurs three times and is used both in the sense of "world" and in that of "state of delight".

The last couplet is Özkat's example for the beloved described as one who gathers all beauties upon himself, like a rose garden. In the first line the lip is likened to wine, the cheek to a rose, the stature to a cypress and the cheeks to tulips; in the second line the old Turkish word "igen" (so, very) is repeated four times to list the beloved's qualities. This repetition (tekrir) gives the couplet both a harmony and a plain utterance.

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. 291, ghazal no. 12 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Hazine, fol. 218b); also pp. 43-44 (Türkî-i Basit), pp. 62-64 (on the ghazals), p. 74 (the profligate's stance), p. 103 (wordplay with idioms) and pp. 119-120 (description of the manuscripts), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.

Online sources