Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Zār iden gerçi beni bu dil-i miskīnümdür
Anı odlara çaḳan çeşm-i cihān-bīnümdür
Ger ḳanat büküp uça saña peyāmum iletür
İy hümā nāme benüm aḳ güğercinümdür
Sāḳiyā elde çıḳar kebg-i ṣafāyı her-dem
Ṣayd ider cān u göñül şāhına şāhīnümdür
Sīne-i zerdümüñ üstinde benüm dāġlarum
Bāġ-ı miḥnetde açılmış gül-i nesrīnümdür
Fażliyā āyine-veş ṣāf-ı dilüm anuñ-çün
Yüzi ayına naẓar eylemek āyīnümdür

In English

1. It is true that what makes me moan is this wretched heart of mine; but what casts it into the flames is my world-seeing eye.

2. O huma (O beloved, lofty as the bird of fortune), my letter is my white dove; if it folds its wings and flies, it will carry my message to you.

3. O cupbearer, (the cup in your hand) catches the partridge of delight at every moment in the hand; it is my falcon that hunts game for the king of soul and heart.

4. The brand-wounds on my yellowed breast are my wild roses blooming in the garden of affliction.

5. O Fazlî, since my heart is pure as a mirror, to gaze upon his moon face is my rite (my custom, my way).

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). The redif (refrain word) is the suffix "-dür" (is); Özkat counts this ghazal among those with a suffix redif. The rhyme is formed by the sound "-īn" in the words "miskīn, cihān-bīn, güğercin, şāhīn, nesrīn, āyīn", taking the form "-īnüm" together with the possessive suffix; the short vowel of the Turkish word "güğercin" (dove) stands apart in this series; this is our own observation. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet in the form "Fażliyā". The ghazal is the eighty-second in Özkat's edition and is found only in the Fazlî divan section (fol. 240a) 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 recalls the quarrel between eye and heart often treated in divan poetry: it is the heart that makes the lover moan, but it is the eye that casts the heart into the fire, seeing the beauty and showing it to the heart. The epithet "cihān-bīn" (world-seeing) explains the eye's guilt. In the second couplet the letter is likened to a white dove; the use of pigeons for sending messages in that age is the ground of this comparison. The beloved is named with the huma bird; in divan poetry the huma is a bird of fortune that makes happy anyone on whose head its shadow falls. The phrase "ḳanat bükmek" (to fold the wings) also brings to mind a sheet of letter paper folded and curved like a wing; this is our own interpretation.

The third couplet is built on the terms of falconry: "kebg" (partridge), "ṣayd" (game), "şāhīn" (falcon) and "şāh" (king). The subject is not named in the couplet; since the cupbearer is addressed and the words "in the hand" are used, we have understood it as the cup; this is our own interpretation. The falcon is carried on the hunter's hand and released at the game; the cup too is held in the hand and catches the partridge of delight. The likeness of sound between "şāh" and "şāhīn" adds further cadence to the couplet. In the fourth couplet the brand-wounds on the lover's yellow breast are wild roses (nesrin) blooming in the garden of affliction; the words "dāġ" (brand) and "bāġ" (garden) also call to each other in sound. The last couplet is one Özkat cites among his examples of the pun (cinas): there is a pun between the words "āyine" (mirror) and "āyīn" (rite, custom). The lover whose heart is pure as a mirror reflects the beloved's moon face within himself; the word "ayına" (to his moon) continues the same sequence of sounds.

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. 332, ghazal no. 82 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Hazine, fol. 240a); also p. 68 (redifs), p. 84 (pun) and pp. 119-120 (description of the manuscripts), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.

Online sources