Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefā‘īlün Mefā‘īlün Mefā‘īlün Mefā‘īlün

Vefādan ‘āşıḳa gerçi saña cānā cefā yeğdür
Ne çāre biz taḥammül idelüm ammā Ḫudā yeğdür
Raḳībüñ midḥatından ḫoş gelür düşnāmı dil-dāruñ
Belā nefrīnden iy māh-ı cihān-ārā du‘ā yeğdür
Baña kūyuñ iti aġyārdan biñ kerre ā‘lādur
Hezārān yāddan ġurbetde bir ḫoş āşnā yeğdür
Cihānda var-iken derdüñ gerekmez baña dermānı
Ṭabībüm derd-mende derdden zīrā devā yeğdür
Yumup göz ḥūrdan ṣūfī yudum el āb-ı Kevs̱er’den
Şarāb-ı cān-fezā vü dilber-i ra‘nā baña yeğdür
Saña biñ ‘ayb ü bir ṭā‘at baña bir fıṣḳ u yüz biñ ‘öẕr
Ki zühd-i bī-riyādan ṣūfi cām-ı bā-ṣafā yeğdür
Ḳo Fażlī gūşe-i mey-ḫānelerde mu‘tekif olsun
Cināndan zāhidā biñ mertebe ol cā baña yeğdür

In English

1. O my soul (beloved), it is true that for you cruelty to the lover is better than faithfulness; what can we do but endure it, yet God is better (than all).

2. The beloved's abuse is sweeter to me than the rival's praise (of you); (still,) O world-adorning moon, a prayer is better than a curse that brings calamity. (The manuscript reads "one who prays is better".)

3. To me the dog of your street is a thousand times higher than the rivals; in exile, one pleasant acquaintance is better than thousands of strangers.

4. While your pain exists in the world I need no cure for it; for, O my physician, to the afflicted a cure that comes from the pain is better. (That is, the pain itself is his cure.)

5. O Sufi, closing my eyes to the houri, I have washed my hands of the water of Kevser; life-giving wine and a graceful beauty are better for me.

6. (O Sufi,) to you fall a thousand faults and one act of devotion, to me one sin and a hundred thousand excuses; for, O Sufi, a cup full of purity is better than even an asceticism free of hypocrisy. (The manuscript has "a thousand wonders" for "a thousand faults".)

7. Let Fazlî withdraw into seclusion in the corner of the taverns; O ascetic, to me that place is a thousand times better than paradise.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a ghazal (gazel) of seven couplets, written in the "mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün" pattern of the hezec family of aruz (quantitative metre). The redif (refrain word) is the word "yeğdür" (is better); Özkat counts this ghazal among those with a Turkish word redif. The rhyme is formed by the sound "-ā" in the words "cefā, Ḫudā, du‘ā, āşnā, devā, bā-ṣafā"; in the fifth and seventh couplets the rhyme falls on the word "baña" (to me). The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. The ghazal is the eighty-third 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. Özkat has corrected the reading of the manuscript in two places: in the second couplet the manuscript reads "du‘ā-gū yeğdür" (one who prays is better), and in the first line of the sixth couplet it has "‘aceb" (wonder) instead of "‘ayb" (fault). It is not known to whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal consists of a series of judgements that compare two things in each couplet and prefer one to the other; the redif "yeğdür" carries these comparisons. In the first couplet, for the beloved, cruelty is better than faithfulness, and the lover sees no remedy but to endure. In the second couplet the beloved's abuse is sweeter than the rival's praise; the second line can be read as an entreaty asking for a prayer instead of a curse. In the third couplet the dog in the beloved's street is higher than the rivals; the dog's devotion to the beloved's door is an image often used in divan poetry. The words "yād" (stranger) and "āşnā" (acquaintance) form an antithesis. The fourth couplet is obscure: the phrase "derdden devā" (a cure from the pain) can be understood to mean that the pain itself is the lover's cure; this is our own interpretation. The lover's refusal to seek a cure for his pain is connected with the view, in divan poetry, of pain as the proof of love.

From the fifth couplet on, the ghazal addresses the Sufi and the ascetic and treats the familiar opposition between the libertine (rind) and the ascetic (zahid). Özkat cites the fifth couplet among the examples of both the idioms "göz yummak" (to close one's eyes to something) and "el yumak" (to wash one's hands of something). The houri and Kevser are the delights of paradise; the lover closes his eyes to them and washes his hands of them, preferring the wine and the beauty of this world. In the sixth couplet a thousand faults and one act of devotion fall to the Sufi, and one sin and a hundred thousand excuses to the lover; "‘ayb" (fault) and "ṭā‘at" (devotion), "fısḳ" (sin) and "‘öẕr" (excuse) are set against each other. In the second line there is a closeness of sound between the words "ṣūfī" and "bā-ṣafā" (full of purity); this is our own observation. In the last couplet the word "mu‘tekif" (one who has entered itikâf) is striking: itikâf is withdrawal into seclusion in a mosque for worship; by using this religious term for a corner of the tavern the poet teases the ascetic.

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. 333, ghazal no. 83 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Hazine, fol. 240a); also p. 69 (redifs), p. 92 (idioms) and pp. 119-120 (description of the manuscripts), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.

Online sources