Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Açduġı-y-çün mācerā-yı eşkümi ṣaḥrālara
Dil uzatdı sū-be-sū ırmaġlar deryālara
Zülf-i fettānuñda vā-veylā ne ḥāletdür bu kim
Düşdi mecnūnuñ olup her leyli vā-veylālara
Ter terāneyle gül-i ter devridür sen ‘işret it
Zāhid-i ḫuşk olma ter düşse ḳuru ġavġālara
Rāy-ı ġarrādur disem ebrūña rāyum rāstdur
Cümle ārā’ ehli hep ḳā’il durur bu rālara
Şāh-bāz-ı ṭab‘um iy Fażlī hümā-pervāzdur
Yiridür ṭa‘līm-i pervāz eylesem ‘anḳālara

In English

1. Because (my tears) laid open the tale of my tears to the deserts, the rivers on every side stretched out their tongues to the seas.

2. In your mischievous tresses, alas, what state is this: every night (leylî) has become your Majnun and fallen into lamentations. (The word "leylī" evokes both "night" and Layla; the couplet can be understood in two ways.)

3. It is the season of the fresh rose with a fresh melody, so drink; even if dew should fall, do not be a dry ascetic (falling) into dry quarrels.

4. If I call your eyebrow "a bright rā", my judgement is right; all men of judgement agree on these "rā"s.

5. O Fazlî, the royal falcon of my talent flies like the huma; it would be fitting if I taught the anka to fly.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a ghazal (gazel) of five 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 suffix "-lara" (to the ...) with the dative; Özkat counts this ghazal among those with a suffix as redif. The rhyme is formed by the sound "-ā" in the words "ṣaḥrā, deryā, vā-veylā, ġavġā, rā, ‘anḳā". The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. The ghazal is the hundred and thirty-third in Özkat's edition and is found on fol. 111b of miscellany no. Âşir Efendi 314 in the Süleymaniye Library. It is not known to whom or when it was written.

The hundred and thirty-fourth ghazal, which follows it immediately in the edition, stands on the same leaf of the same miscellany and is written in the same metre, redif and rhyme. The second lines of the two opening couplets differ only in their first words ("Dil uzatdı" and "Aḳın itdi"), the rhyme "vā-veylālara" is shared in the second couplets and "‘anḳālara" in the last couplets. This resemblance is our own observation; that the two ghazals may be two attempts on the same ground or two wordings of the same ghazal is our own inference. Özkat makes no assessment on this point.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet is built on hyperbole (mübalağa). The lover's tears have spread over the deserts, and the rivers, on learning this tale, have "stretched out their tongues" towards the seas. Özkat lists this couplet among the places where the idiom "dil uzatmak" (to stretch out the tongue, to speak against) occurs. The shape of the rivers reaching towards the sea is likened to a tongue; the idiom here carries both the sense of stretching out and that of speaking against someone, taunting. These two senses are our own observation. In the second couplet the word "leylī" evokes both "black as night" and the name Layla; the sound of the name "Leylā" is also heard within the word "vā-veylā" (alas). Before the mischief of the tresses every night has become a Majnun and fallen into lamentation. This play of sound is our own observation.

In the third couplet the word "ter" (fresh) is repeated three times and forms an antithesis with the words "ḫuşk" (dry) and "ḳuru" (dry): in the season of the fresh rose dry asceticism and dry quarrels are unbecoming. The fourth couplet rests on a play on letters. The letter "rā" (ر) of the Arabic alphabet is likened by its curved shape to an eyebrow; the words "rāy" (judgement), "rāst" (right) and "ārā'" (opinions) are also related in sound to the name of this letter. This play on letters and sounds is our own inference. In the last couplet the poet likens his poetic talent to the şahbaz, the most prized of hunting birds; this bird flies on high like the huma, regarded as the bird of fortune, and could teach even the fabulous anka to fly. This boasting couplet carries the same tone as Fazlî's other sayings on his poetry.

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. 364, ghazal no. 133 (Süleymaniye Library, Âşir Efendi 314, fol. 111b); also p. 69 (redifs), p. 91 (idioms) and pp. 118-119 (description of the manuscripts), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.

Online sources