Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Zāhidā baña yeter ol ṣanem-i māh-liḳā
Başdan ayaġa yüri var senüñ olsun ḥūrā
Eşk-i çeşmümle idi baḥs̱i ben andan yudum el
Enine uzunına yatsun efendi deryā
Ġayruñ öñince varur luṭf-ile yumşaḳlıḳ ider
Ṭaş ḳayadur baña geldükçe ol āfet ammā
Mihri beñzetdi meger ḥüsnüñe çün gördi yüzüñ
Döndi yirden yire geçdi felek iy māh-liḳā
Yār eyvā ile yandum o ḳamer iy Fażlī
Leb-i şeftālüsini dimedi bir gün al ma

In English

1. O ascetic, that moon-faced idol is enough for me; go your way, and let the houri be yours from head to foot.

2. The sea was disputing with the tears of my eyes (over which was greater); I washed my hands of it; let his lordship the sea lie down at full length.

3. Before others he goes with kindness and is gentle with them; but when he comes to me that bane of hearts turns to stone and rock.

4. O moon-faced one, the heavens had likened the sun to your beauty; on seeing your face they turned about and sank into the ground (for shame).

5. O Fazlî, I burned crying "alas" because of that moon; not once did he offer me his peach of a lip and say "here, take it".

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a ghazal (gazel) of five couplets, written in the "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün" pattern of the remel family of aruz (quantitative metre). It has no redif; Özkat counts this ghazal among those with full rhyme. The rhyme is formed by the sound "-ā/-a" at the end of the words "māh-liḳā, ḥūrā, deryā, ammā, māh-liḳā, al ma"; "māh-liḳā" of the opening couplet is repeated in the fourth couplet. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. The ghazal is the twenty-second in Özkat's edition and is found only in the Fazlî divan section (fol. 232a) 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

This small ghazal is one of the poems Özkat draws on most in his study; four of its five couplets are cited as examples of idioms, plain Turkish or figures of speech. Its language is very close to everyday speech. In the first couplet the lover leaves paradise and the houri to the ascetic and says that the moon-faced beauty of this world is enough for him; the expressions "başdan ayaġa" (from head to foot) and "yüri var" (go on, be off) are taken from spoken language. The second couplet is the wittiest in the ghazal: the sea has entered into a contest of size with the lover's tears; the lover has "washed his hands" of the dispute, that is, given it up, and addressing the sea with light mockery as "efendi" (his lordship), tells it to lie down "at full length". There is also a congruence of images (tenasüp) between washing the hands, water and the sea. Özkat counts this couplet among the examples of the idioms "el çekmek (el yumak)" (to wash one's hands of) and "enine boyuna" (at full length), and gives it as an example of Fazlî's plain Turkish.

The third couplet is cited by Özkat in four separate places. In his reading it tells how the beloved, who does not withhold attention from his other lovers and is gentle towards them, turns to "stone and rock" when it comes to the poet; Özkat also gives it as an example of expressions bearing the marks of the Türkî-i Basit movement and of the weight of Turkish words in Fazlî's poetry. The contrast between "yumşaḳlıḳ" (gentleness) and "ṭaş ḳaya" (stone and rock) carries the couplet. In the fourth couplet a poetic reason is found for the turning of the heavens: the heavens had likened the sun to the beloved's beauty, then on seeing his face understood their mistake and, turning about, sank into the ground for shame. Özkat sees here the idiom "yerden yere geçmek (yerin dibine geçmek)" (to wish the earth would swallow one).

The last couplet is among Özkat's examples of double entendre (tevriye) and is a play on words built entirely on the names of fruits. "Eyvā" answers both to the exclamation "eyvah" (alas) and to "ayva" (quince); "şeftālü" to the peach and also, in divan poetry, to a kiss; and "al ma" both to "elma" (apple) and to the words "al, ma" (here, take it). Thus while quince, peach and apple form a congruence of fruits, the couplet can also be read as the plain complaint of a lover against a beloved who never once offers his kiss.

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. 297, ghazal no. 22 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Hazine, fol. 232a); also p. 44 (Türkî-i Basit), pp. 63-64 (subjects of the ghazals), p. 69 (rhyme), p. 85 (double entendre), pp. 91-93 (idioms), pp. 103 and 105 (plain Turkish) and pp. 119-120 (description of the manuscripts), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.

Online sources