Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Külüng-i kūh-ı ‘ışḳı bu deli Ferhād-ḳandan ṣor
Belālar ḳıṣṣasın ya‘nī ki başından geçenden ṣor
Belā-yı ‘ışḳ-ı Şīrīn’i ne bilsün ṣorma Ḫüsrev’den
Eger bilmek murād-ise anı sen kūh-kenden ṣor
Bu dāġ-ı derd ile ṣaḥrā-yı ġamdan lāle-veş iy dil
Şehīd-i ‘ışḳ-ı yār olduġını ḳanlu kefenden ṣor
Bahār irdi gül açıldı cihān cennet mis̱āl olar
İrem bāġınuñ evṣāfın bugün ṣaḥn-ı çemenden ṣor
Ne bilsün Fażliyā zāhid ġubār-ı pāyunuñ ḳadrin
Gözüñ aç tūtiyādur ḫurde ḫurde anı benden ṣor

In English

1. Ask about the pickaxe of the mountain of love from this mad Farhad (from this mountain-digger like Farhad); ask the tale of calamities, that is, ask the one who has lived through them. (The exact reading of the word "Ferhād-ḳan" is not clear.)

2. What does Khusraw know of the calamity of love for Shirin? Do not ask him; if you want to know it, ask the mountain-digger (Farhad).

3. O heart, with this brand of pain, like the tulip (blooming) in the desert of grief, ask the bloody shroud whether one has become a martyr of love for the beloved.

4. Spring has come, the rose has opened, the world has become like paradise; ask today the open meadow about the qualities of the garden of Irem.

5. O Fazlî, what does the ascetic know of the worth of the dust of your feet? Open your eyes, (that dust) is tutty (an eye-salve); ask me about it in fine detail.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a ghazal (gazel) of five 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 verb "ṣor" (ask) and takes the form "-den ṣor" (ask of) with the ablative suffix; Özkat counts this ghazal among those whose redif is made up of a suffix and a Turkish word. The rhyme is formed by the sound "-en" in the words "Ferhād-ḳan, geçen, kūh-ken, kefen, çemen, ben". The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet in the form "Fażliyā". The ghazal is the eighty-eighth in Özkat's edition and is not found in the Hazine miscellany; it is found only in the "Mecmū‘a-i Eş‘ār" in the Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Revan 1969 (fol. 154a). Özkat describes this miscellany as a compilation written in naskh script in two columns, containing poems by a great many poets, and states that it includes three ghazals by Fazlî. In the miscellany the first couplet reads "külüngi" instead of "külüng-i" and the last couplet "ġubārı" instead of "ġubār-ı"; Özkat has shown the genitive link (izafet) in the text. It is not known to whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The redif of the ghazal counsels, in each couplet, that a thing be asked of the one who has truly lived it. The first two couplets allude to the story of Khusraw and Shirin: Farhad pierces the mountain with his pickaxe for Shirin's sake and is called "kūh-ken" (mountain-digger); Khusraw is the king, who has won Shirin. The poet says that Farhad knows the calamity of love and Khusraw does not; the words "külüng" (pickaxe), "kūh" (mountain) and "kūh-ken" form a congruence of images (tenasüp). The phrase "başından geçen" (the one who has lived through it) in the second line of the first couplet rests on the Turkish idiom "başından geçmek" (to go through, to experience). The word "Ferhād-ḳan" in the first line can be read as "digging like Farhad", but this reading is not certain.

In the third couplet the tulip, with the black spot at its centre, is likened to a brand-wound, and with its red petals to a bloody shroud; the tulip growing in the desert of grief merges with the bloody shroud of the martyr of love. The fourth couplet is a picture of spring: the world has become like paradise, and whoever wishes to learn what the legendary garden of Irem was like should look at the meadows. The last couplet teases the ascetic: he does not know the worth of the dust of the beloved's feet. "Tūtiyā" (tutty) is a substance used as an eye-salve; the words "gözüñ aç" (open your eyes) form a congruence of images with this salve applied to the eye; this is our own observation. To apply the dust of the beloved's feet to the eye as collyrium is a familiar image in divan poetry expressing the lover's humility.

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. 336, ghazal no. 88 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Revan 1969, fol. 154a); also p. 69 (redifs) and p. 121 (description of the manuscripts), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.

Online sources