Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Derd-i dilberden ḫaber-dār olmayan bīmārdur
Dāġ-ı ‘ışḳından dil-efgār olmayan inkārdur
Sāġarumı çekmedür kārı dem-ā-dem ṣūfiyā
Ehl-i ‘ışḳı ṣanma kim sencileyin bī-kārdur
Ruḫlaruñ devrinde dil itmez lebüñden ictināb
Bādeden perhīz vaḳt-i gülde key düşvārdur
Na‘re-i mestānemüz eflāke irişse n’ola
Bezmimüzde çünki sāḳī ol ḳamer-ruḥsārdur
Terk-i ‘ār it vaṣl-ı yāre ṭālib iseñ Fażliyā
Dāyimā men‘-i viṣāl iden belā-yı ‘ārdur

In English

1. Whoever has no knowledge of the pain of the beloved is (truly) sick; whoever's heart is not wounded by the brand of love is a denial (of love).

2. O Sufi, (the lover's) work at every moment is to drain my cup; do not think the people of love idle like you.

3. In the season of your cheeks (the season of roses) the heart does not keep away from your lip; abstaining from wine in the time of roses is very hard.

4. What wonder if our drunken cry reaches the heavens? For in our gathering the cupbearer is that moon-cheeked one.

5. O Fazlî, if you seek union with the beloved, give up the sense of shame; what always prevents union is the curse of shame.

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) is the suffix "-dur/-dür" (is); Özkat counts this ghazal among those with a suffix redif. The rhyme is formed by the sound "-ār" in the words "bīmār, inkār, bī-kār, düşvār, ruḫsār, ‘ār". The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet in the form "Fażliyā". The ghazal is the sixty-seventh in Özkat's edition and is found only in the Fazlî divan section (fol. 237a) of the miscellany in the Hazine collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum Library. According to Özkat's note, the word "dil-efgār" in the second line of the first couplet is written "dil-figār" in the manuscript; both forms mean "wounded in heart". It is not known to whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal opens with a reversal that counts the one who does not know love as sick: the truly sick is the one with no knowledge of the beloved's pain, and the heart that bears no wound of love is held to have denied love. In the second couplet the Sufi is addressed and told that the people of love are not idle, for their work is to drain the cup. The connection between "kār" (work) and "bī-kār" (idle) sets up a mocking comparison between the Sufi's worship and the lover's wine. In the third couplet the beloved's cheeks are likened to the season of roses; the word "devr" here evokes both the sense of season or time and that of the cup passing from hand to hand in gatherings; this second meaning is our own interpretation. The difficulty of keeping away from wine in the season of roses rests on the familiar bond in divan poetry between spring and drinking.

In the fourth couplet, when the cupbearer of the gathering is the moon-cheeked beloved, the cries of the drunkards reach the heavens; the congruence of images (tenasüp) between moon and sky supports this rising. The last couplet comes close to the idea of melâmet (the path of blame): whoever wishes for union must give up shame and the sense of honour, for what prevents union is the curse of shame. In the rhyme the word "‘ār" (shame) is used twice, as "terk-i ‘ār" (giving up shame) in the first line and "belā-yı ‘ār" (the curse of shame) in the second; this repetition emphasises the ghazal's last word.

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. 324, ghazal no. 67 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Hazine, fol. 237a); also p. 68 (redifs) and pp. 119-120 (description of the manuscripts), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.

Online sources