Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilün
Ḫākuñuñ her ẕerresin ḳıl kuhl-i erbāb-ı naẓar
Gel ṭarīḳ-i ‘ışḳ-ı pāka ḫāk-i pā ol iy göñül
Devlet isterseñ bu ‘ālem devletinden fāriġ ol
Bā-nevā olmaḳ dilerseñ bī-nevā ol iy göñül
Ger devā isterseñ olma derdden Fażlī cüdā
Rāḥat isterseñ belāya mübtelā ol iy göñül
In English
1. (O heart), make every particle of your dust collyrium for the eyes of those who have insight; come, O heart, be dust under the feet on the pure path of love.
2. If you want fortune, give up the fortune of this world; O heart, if you wish to have provision, be without provision.
3. O Fazlî, if you want a remedy, do not part from pain; O heart, if you want ease, be caught in affliction.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The text before us is the last three couplets of a ghazal (gazel) written in the "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün" pattern of the remel family of aruz (quantitative metre). Özkat gives this fragment under the heading "incomplete ghazals rhyming in the letter lâm", among those whose first couplets are missing, and in a footnote to the heading explains that these ghazals were not left unfinished by the poet, but that because of missing pages in the miscellanies the first couplets of some and the last couplets of others have been lost. The fragment is found in the Fazlî divan section (fol. 246a) of the miscellany in the Hazine collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum Library and is numbered as ghazal a hundred and twenty-five in Özkat's edition.
The redif (refrain word) is the phrase "ol iy göñül" (be, O heart); Özkat counts this ghazal among those with a word group as redif. The rhyme is formed by the sound "-ā" in "ḫāk-i pā, bī-nevā, mübtelā". Since the first line of the first couplet ends with the word "naẓar" and does not rhyme with the other line, this couplet is not an opening couplet; this too shows that the beginning of the ghazal has been lost. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. It is not known to whom or when the ghazal was written.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The three couplets are mystical counsels addressed to the heart, and each is built on a paradox. In the first couplet the heart is asked to become dust: every particle of its dust should be collyrium for the eyes of those who have insight. In divan poetry the dust under the feet of the beloved or of a saint is applied to the eyes as collyrium; here the heart itself is called to become this dust. The repetition of the word "ḫāk" (dust) in both lines and the phrase "ḫāk-i pā" (dust under the feet) express humility.
In the second couplet there are two antitheses: to reach true fortune one must give up the fortune of the world; to be "bā-nevā" (provided) one must be "bī-nevā" (unprovided). The word "nevā" means both provision, portion and voice, melody; that these two senses may be thought of together is our own observation. In the last couplet the same thought is applied to pain and affliction: the remedy passes through pain, ease through affliction. The poet's pen name comes in this couplet in the form "Fażlī" and, together with the redif, completes the address to the heart.
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. 358-359, ghazal no. 125 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Hazine, fol. 246a); also p. 62 (incomplete ghazals) and p. 69 (redifs), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.
Online sources
