Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Gerçi benden dūr oldı hicrde yār u diyār
Cān u yār içre muḳīm-dil olupdur yare yār
İy ṣanem deyr-i cihānda zülfüñüñ sevdāların
Başuma alduġumı ‘ayb itme kim başuñda var
Tekye-i dehr içre düşdüm ayaġına cümleden
El çeküp ben eyledüm pīr-i muġānı iḫtiyār
Hem-nişīn-i ḫār gördüm ol gül-i ḫandānumı
Her-dem eylersem ‘aceb mi iy göñül zār-ı hezār
Şöyle mest ol ḥaşre dek ayılma Fażlī ger ola
Sāḳi-i maḥbūb destinde şarāb-ı ḫoş-güvār

In English

1. Though in separation both the beloved and the homeland have gone far from me, the heart has settled between soul and beloved and has become a friend to the wound. (The second line of the couplet is obscure.)

2. O idol (beauty), in the monastery of the world do not blame me for taking into my head the passions (sevdā) of your tress; for (that sevdā) is on your head too.

3. In the lodge of the world I withdrew my hand from everyone, fell at the feet of the elder of the Magians (the tavern-keeper), and chose him.

4. I saw that laughing rose of mine sitting side by side with the thorn; O heart, what wonder if I wail like the nightingale at every moment?

5. O Fazlî, if there is pleasant wine in the hand of the beloved cupbearer, be so drunk that you do not sober up until the Day of Judgement.

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). It has no redif; Özkat counts this ghazal among those with rich rhyme. The rhyme is formed by the sound "-ār/-ar" in the words "diyār, yār, var, iḫtiyār, hezār, ḫoş-güvār". The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. The ghazal is the sixty-fourth in Özkat's edition and is found only in the Fazlî divan section (fol. 236b) 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

The first couplet names together the two losses brought by separation, the beloved and the homeland; the pair "yār u diyār" is also close in sound. In the second line a pun (cinas) is set up by placing "yar" (wound) and "yār" (beloved) side by side; although the meaning of the couplet is not entirely clear, it is understood that the heart, far from the beloved, has befriended its wound. In the second couplet the word "sevdā" is used both in the sense of love and in that of black bile, that is, black colour: the beloved's black tress is on his head, and the lover has taken the passion for that tress into his head. The words "deyr" (monastery) and "ṣanem" (idol) together form a familiar manner of speaking that likens love to the temple of another faith.

The third couplet describes a libertine's choice: in the lodge of the world the lover has withdrawn his hand from everyone and fallen at the feet of the pîr-i mugan. The pîr-i mugan, the elder of the Magians, is in divan poetry the old keeper of the tavern and in the mystical reading stands for the spiritual guide; the meeting of the dervish lodge and the tavern in the same couplet strengthens this double meaning. Özkat cites this couplet among the examples of both the idioms "ayağına düşmek" (to fall at someone's feet) and "el çekmek" (to withdraw one's hand, to renounce). In the fourth couplet the trio of rose, thorn and nightingale is set up: the rose standing beside the thorn is the beloved in the company of the rival, and the lover wails like the nightingale. The word "hezār" means nightingale and is interwoven in sound with "zār" (wailing). In the last couplet the lover counsels himself to become so drunk on the wine from the hand of the beloved cupbearer that he will not sober up until the Day of Judgement.

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. 322, ghazal no. 64 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Hazine, fol. 236b); also p. 69 (rhyme), 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