Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ūlü Fā‘ilātü Mefā‘īlü Fā‘ilün

‘Ālem ribāṭi bir iki günlük ḳonaḳ durur
Ṣanmañ ki ‘ömr ḳāfilesi oturaḳ durur
Görsem yüzüñi cān ramaḳa irdügünde ger
‘Ömrüñ biñ olsa ḥāṣılum ol bir ramaḳ durur
Ḳanlu yaş ile bezm-i maḥabbetde gözlerüm
Gūyā şarāb ile iki ṭolu ayaḳ durur
Sāḳī yanumda tek ṭolu olsun yataḳ hemān
Mey-ḫāne gūşesi baña zībā yataḳ durur
Ma‘cūna virme ‘aḳluñı ṣarf eyle bādeye
Uġrı din[il]se zīra ḥarāmīye ḥaḳ durur
Ḳan aġladı felek görüp aḥvālümi benüm
Vaḳt-i seḥerde ṣanma görinen şafaḳ durur
Kimden ne bāk Fażlī’ye ‘ālemde iy güneş
Kim ṣubḥ gibi alnı açıḳ yüzi aḳ durur

In English

1. The caravanserai of the world is a halting place for a day or two; do not think the caravan of life is a lasting abode.

2. If I were to see your face when the soul reaches its last breath, even if I had a thousand lives, my whole gain would be that one breath.

3. In the gathering of love my eyes, (filled) with bloody tears, are like two cups full of wine.

4. Cupbearer, let there only be a full (cup) beside me, and let the bed be there at once; the corner of the tavern is a fine bed for me. (The meaning of the first line is not entirely clear.)

5. Do not give your reason to the electuary (ma‘cūn); spend it on wine; for if (the electuary) is called a thief, the name is the robber's due.

6. The sky wept blood when it saw my state; do not think that what appears at dawn is the red of daybreak.

7. O sun, whom should Fazlî fear in the world? Like the morning, his brow is open and his face is white (he has nothing to be ashamed of).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a ghazal (gazel) of seven couplets, written in the "mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün" pattern of the muzâri family of aruz (quantitative metre). The redif (refrain word) is "durur" (is, stands); Özkat counts this ghazal among those with a Turkish single-word redif. The rhyme is formed by the sound "-aḳ" in the words "ḳonaḳ, oturaḳ, ramaḳ, ayaḳ, yataḳ, ḥaḳ, şafaḳ, aḳ". The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. The ghazal is the sixty-third in Özkat's edition and is found only in the Fazlî divan section (fol. 236a) of the miscellany in the Hazine collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum Library. In the word "din[il]se" in the fifth couplet the syllable in square brackets is Özkat's addition. It is not known to whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal opens with a couplet on the transience of the world: the world is a "ribāṭ", a caravanserai on the road, and the caravan of life halts there only for a day or two. The words "ribāṭ" (caravanserai), "ḳonaḳ" (halting place), "ḳāfile" (caravan) and "oturaḳ" (abode) form a congruence of images (tenasüp) from the field of travel. In the second couplet the word "ramaḳ" (last breath) is used both in the rhyme and within the line: to see the beloved's face when the soul comes to its last breath is worth more than a thousand lives. In the third couplet the eyes filled with bloody tears are likened to two cups full of wine. The fourth couplet presents the corner of the tavern as the lover's bed; the word "yataḳ" (bed) in its first line is repeated as the rhyme in the second.

In the fifth couplet the electuary (ma‘cūn) that dulls the mind is compared with wine: it is better to spend one's reason on wine than to give it to the electuary, for the electuary that steals the mind deserves to be called a thief. The words "uġrı" (thief) and "ḥarāmī" (highway robber) form a congruence of images. In the sixth couplet the red of dawn is shown as the tears of the sky, which weeps blood at the sight of the lover's state; finding such a reason for the redness of daybreak has the character of hüsn-i ta'lil (poetic aetiology). Özkat counts this couplet among the examples of the idiom "kan ağlamak" (to weep blood). The last couplet says that Fazlî need fear no one, for like the morning he is "alnı açık, yüzü ak" (open-browed and white-faced, that is, with a clear conscience). Özkat cites this couplet both in the first list in which he gives examples of idioms and as an example of the idiom "alnı açık yüzü ak". The comparison between the brightness of the morning and the white face sets the idiom naturally into the couplet.

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. 321-322, ghazal no. 63 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Hazine, fol. 236a); also p. 43 (idioms), p. 69 (redifs), pp. 90 and 92 (idioms) and pp. 119-120 (description of the manuscripts), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.

Online sources