Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefā‘ilün Fe‘ilātün Mefā‘ilün Fe‘ilün

Leb-i ḥabīb olur ise cinānda cām baña
Ṭahūra māyil olursam ola ḥarām baña
Olalı zülf ü ruḫuñ dūr dīdeden iy meh
Beyāż ṣubḥ ile birdür sevād-ı şām baña
Lebüñ ġamında gözüm cāmını ḳılup pür ḫūn
Ṣunar ṭolu ṭolu sāḳī-i ġam müdām baña
İtüñ geçünmek ile şehr içinde meşhūrum
Murād şöhret ise ger yeter bu nām baña
Ululadı beni itüm didi o sulṭānum
Yeter cihānda be Fażlī bu iḥtirām baña

In English

1. If in paradise the beloved's lip becomes my cup, then, should I incline to the pure wine of paradise (şarāb-ı ṭahūr), let it be forbidden to me.

2. O moon, since your lock and your cheek have been far from my eyes, the white of morning and the black of evening are one to me.

3. The cupbearer of grief, filling the cup of my eye with blood in grief for your lip, offers it to me brimming without end.

4. I am famous in the city for passing as your dog; if fame is the aim, this name is enough for me.

5. That sultan of mine exalted me by saying "my dog"; O Fazlî, this honour in the world is enough for me.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a ghazal (gazel) of five couplets, written in the "mefā‘ilün fe‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fe‘ilün" pattern of the müctes family of aruz (quantitative metre). The redif (refrain word) is "baña" (to me); the rhyme is formed by the sound "-ām" in the words "cām, ḥarām, şām, müdām, nām, iḥtirām". The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. The ghazal is the thirteenth in Özkat's edition and is found only in the Fazlî divan section (fol. 219a) of the miscellany in the Hazine collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum Library. The word "cām" (cup) in the first line has the form "Cem" in the manuscript; Özkat established the text as "cām". It is not known to whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet compares the blessings of paradise with the beloved's lip. Even the pure wine to be served in paradise counts as forbidden to the lover once the beloved's lip is his cup. The words "ṭahūr" (pure wine), "cinān" (gardens of paradise) and "ḥarām" (forbidden) build a religious language; the poet uses this language to set the beloved's lip above paradise.

The second couplet is the example Özkat chose for leff ü neşr (parallel arrangement) in showing Fazlî's figures of speech. In the first line "zülf" (lock) and "ruḫ" (cheek) are named; in the second line "sevād-ı şām" (the black of evening) and "beyāż-ı ṣubḥ" (the white of morning) answer to them. The black lock corresponds to evening, the bright cheek to morning; but in the second line the order is reversed, and morning is named first, then evening. With the beloved far from sight, the difference between night and day has vanished.

In the third couplet grief becomes a cupbearer: the lover's eye becomes a cup, this cup fills with bloody tears, and the cupbearer of grief offers it without end. The words "sāḳī" (cupbearer), "cām" (cup), "ṭolu" (brimming) and "müdām" form a congruence of images (tenasüp); since "müdām" means both "without end" and "wine", it also adds a double entendre (tevriye) to the couplet. The last two couplets rest on the motif in divan poetry of the lover's likening himself to the dog at the beloved's door. The lover has won fame in the city by being the beloved's dog and counts the beloved's calling him "itüm" (my dog) an exaltation. This contrast between abasement and exaltation carries the relation of servant and sultan to its extreme; the words "şöhret" (fame), "nām" (name) and "iḥtirām" (honour) also stress this contrast.

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. 291-292, ghazal no. 13 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Hazine, fol. 219a); also pp. 45 and 84 (figures of speech) and pp. 119-120 (description of the manuscripts), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.

Online sources