Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Yine şād ol göñül ḫayr oldı kāruñ devletüñ geldi
Ẓahīrüñ mesnedüñ ya‘nī o ‘ālī-rütbetüñ geldi
Gidelden ol ṭabīb-i cān beġāyet nā-tüvān idüñ
Yine cānuñ yirine geldi el-ḥaḳ ṣıḥḥatüñ geldi
Ayaḳda ḳalmış-ıduñ ḫāk gibi pāy-māl olup
Elüñ almaḳ muḳarrerdür o ‘ālī-himmetüñ geldi
Düşelden ḫıdmetinden dūr ġāyet ḫᵛār olmışduñ
‘Azīz olduñ yine minnet Ḫudā’ya ‘izzetüñ geldi
Ḳapusından ırılmaḳ bir nefes bābuñ degül zinhār
Ḫudā’dan fetḥ-i bāb oldı çalış kim furṣatuñ geldi
Murāda irmedüñ furṣat düşelden araya hergiz
Beġāyet kām-kār olduñ zemān-ı vuṣlatuñ geldi
Gözüñ aydın günüñ ṭoġdı sa‘ādet saña yüz ṭutdı
Yine iy Fażlī ol ḫūrşīd-i burc-ı rif‘atüñ geldi

In English

1. O heart, rejoice again, your affairs have turned out well, your fortune has come; your support, your mainstay, that one of lofty rank has come.

2. Since that physician of the soul went away you were utterly weak; your soul has come back to its place, truly your health has come.

3. Trodden underfoot like dust, you had been left standing; it is certain that your hand will be taken, that one of lofty zeal has come.

4. Since you fell far from his service you had become utterly despised; you are honoured again, thanks be to God, your honour has come.

5. Beware, it is not your business to leave his door for a single moment; God has opened the door, strive, for your opportunity has come.

6. Since separation came between you, you never found the chance to reach your desire; you have become most fortunate, the time of your union has come.

7. O Fazlî, joy to your eyes, your day has dawned, felicity has turned its face to you; again that sun of the sign of loftiness has come.

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). The redif (refrain word) is the phrase "-üñ geldi" (your ... has come); 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 "-et / -at" in the words "devlet, rütbet, ṣıḥḥat, himmet, ‘izzet, furṣat, vuṣlat, rif‘at". The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. The ghazal is the hundred and thirty-seventh in Özkat's edition and is found on fol. 87a of miscellany no. Âşir Efendi 314 in the Süleymaniye Library.

Historical Context

It is known to whom and on what occasion this ghazal was written. According to Özkat, the ghazal stands within a tehniyet-nâme entitled "Tehniyet-nāme-i Ḥażret-i Aḥmed Çelebi bin Meḥmed Pāşā Defter-dār-ı Tīmār-hā-yı Rūm İli Şud". A tehniyet-nâme is a work written to congratulate someone on his appointment to a new post or on some happy event. The only copy of this work is on fols. 85b-92b of miscellany no. Âşir Efendi 314, and there is no information about it in the biographical anthologies of poets. Written in mixed verse and prose, the work consists of Arabic, Persian and Turkish verse and prose supported by verses of the Qur'an and hadith. As its title shows, it was written to celebrate the appointment of Ahmed Çelebi as defterdar (treasurer) of the timars of Rumelia in 954 (1547). Besides this ghazal the work contains a kaside and a chronogram, three Turkish poems in all; the chronogram gives the date 954 in the line "Aḥmedā yümn ile olduñ defterī".

Özkat says that it is not known exactly who the Ahmed Çelebi celebrated in the tehniyet-nâme was. Historical sources mention an Ahmed Çelebi who served as chief treasurer in the reigns of Bayezid II, Selim I and Süleyman the Magnificent. This man, the son of Zağanos Mehmed Paşa, one of the well-known viziers of the age of Mehmed the Conqueror, held the post of treasurer twice: first between 905 and 907 (1499/1500-1501/1502), and a second time beginning in the reign of Selim I and lasting until 927 (1521). According to Özkat, if the Ahmed Çelebi of the tehniyet-nâme is this man, he must have been appointed to the post for a third time in 954 (1547); if not, the person mentioned is someone else.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is a congratulation written in the mould of a love ghazal. The poet addresses his own heart and tells it to rejoice, because its "ẓahīr" and "mesned", its support and mainstay, the man of lofty rank, has come. The verb "geldi" (has come) in the redif counts in every couplet another blessing that has come: fortune, health, zeal, honour, opportunity, union and loftiness. In the second couplet the patron is called "ṭabīb-i cān" (physician of the soul); the heart, which grew weak at his going, recovers its health at his return. The words of going, falling far and separation in the couplets suggest that Ahmed Çelebi had for a time been away from office or from the poet; this is our own inference and there is no information to this effect in the source.

In the ghazal antitheses and idioms carry the joy of the celebration. In the third couplet the heart, left trodden underfoot like dust, is told the good news that its "hand will be taken", that is, that it will be helped up; the opposition between foot and hand is our own observation. In the fourth couplet the words "ḫᵛār" (despised) and "‘azīz" (honoured) form an antithesis. In the fifth couplet the word "bāb" is used in the senses of both door and business, matter, and creates a double entendre (tevriye) with the phrase "fetḥ-i bāb" (the opening of the door); this is our own observation. In the last couplet the congratulatory phrase "gözün aydın" (joy to your eyes) combines with the images of daybreak and the sun of the sign of loftiness; the patron is likened to a sun rising in its sign.

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. 366-367, ghazal no. 137 (Süleymaniye Library, Âşir Efendi 314, fol. 87a); also pp. 34-35 (the Tehniyet-nâme), p. 69 (redifs) and pp. 118-119 (description of the manuscripts), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.
  • İsmail Hami Danişmend, İzahlı Osmanlı Tarihi Kronolojisi, Türkiye Yayınları, Istanbul 1947-1948, I, p. 455; II, p. 442 (as cited by Özkat).

Online sources