Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Her ārāda bulınur ol cihān-ārāyı bilmezler
Yabanlarda arar ḫalḳ-ı cihān arayıbilmezler
Cihānı yir yüzinde ol şeker-leb zinde eylerken
Felekde ẓannider ḫalḳ-ı cihān ‘Īsā’yı bilmezler
‘Acebdür ḥāl-i yārānuñ muḥabbet ‘arż idüp yāre
Açarlar sīnelerde yāreler yarayı bilmezler
Güzeller ‘āşıḳa meyl ü muḥabbet itmemek olmaz
Velī dilberlere sözin yanup aġlayıbilmezler
Ser-i zülfüñ hevāsın ṣorma her bī-maġza luṭf eyle
Ne bilsün gelmeyenler başına sevdāyı bilmezler
Lebüñ cāmın ne bilsün ṣūfi aġzından ıraġ olsun
İçüp ẕevḳ itmeyenler leẕẕeti ṣaḥbāyı bilmezler
Ne bilsün Fażlī’yi ḥüsn ü kelāma olmayan mālik
Ḳulaġı olmayanlar bülbül-i gūyāyı bilmezler

In English

1. That adorner of the world (the beloved) is found in every place, (yet people) do not know it; the people of the world seek him in the wilds (in far and desolate places) and cannot seek (him nearby).

2. While that sugar-lipped one brings the world to life upon the earth, the people of the world think Jesus is in heaven; they do not know (the truth).

3. Strange is the state of the friends: offering their love to the beloved they open wounds in their breasts, (yet) they do not know (the cure of) the wound. (The word "yarayıbilmezler" also means "they cannot be of any use".)

4. It cannot be that the fair ones show no inclination and no love to the lover; but (the lovers) cannot tell their words to the beauties, burning and weeping.

5. Be kind, and do not ask every brainless one about the passion for the tip of your tress; how should those to whom it has not happened know? They do not know passion.

6. How should the Sufi know the cup of your lip? Far be it from his mouth; those who have not drunk and enjoyed it do not know the delight of wine.

7. How should one who is no master of beauty and speech know Fazlî? Those who have no ears do not know the speaking nightingale.

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 "bilmezler" (they do not know) and takes the form "-ı bilmezler" with the accusative 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 "-ā/-a" in the words "cihān-ārā, ara, ‘Īsā, yara, aġla, sevdā, ṣaḥbā, gūyā". The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. The ghazal is the eighty-ninth 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 Yapı Kredi Sermet Çifter Research Library, no. 1082 (fol. 29a). Özkat states that this small miscellany was copied in the sixteenth century and contains three ghazals by Fazlî. It is not known to whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The most striking feature of the ghazal is the working of its redif. The words "arayıbilmezler" and "aġlayıbilmezler" are at once part of the redif, read as "arayı bilmezler, aġlayı bilmezler" (they do not know the in-between, they do not know weeping), and verbs of ability meaning "they cannot seek, they cannot weep"; in the third couplet "yarayı bilmezler" is likewise double, between "they do not know the wound" and "they cannot be of use". This double reading is our own observation. In the first couplet there is a pun (cinas) between "ārā" (adorning) and "ara" (in-between, place): the beloved who adorns the world is found in every place, but people seek him far away. In the second couplet the beloved's lip is like the breath of Jesus, which raised the dead; people, however, think Jesus is in heaven. In the third couplet the words "yāre" (to the beloved), "yāreler" (wounds) and "yara" (wound) are bound together by sound.

In the fifth couplet the words "ser" (head), "bī-maġz" (brainless), "baş" (head) and "sevdā" form a congruence of images (tenasüp); since sevda means both love and, in the old medicine, the black bile that rises to the head, it joins the words for brain and head. The saying "one to whom it has not happened does not know" recalls a well-known Turkish expression; this is our own observation. The phrase "aġzından ıraġ olsun" in the sixth couplet means literally "far be it from his mouth" and is at the same time a formula of prayer said to ward off something bad. The last couplet is one Özkat cites among Fazlî's remarks on his own poetry: according to Özkat, Fazlî, who calls his poems a "sugar-scattering" parrot and himself a "speaking nightingale", says that those who lack "beauty and speech" and the deaf will not understand him.

Response Poem

According to Özkat, although there is no note in the miscellany where the ghazal is found, it is clear from its metre, rhyme and redif that it is a nazire (response poem) to Hayâlî's famous ghazal whose opening couplet is "Cihān-ārā cihān içindedür ārāyı bilmezler / O māhīler ki deryā içredür deryāyı bilmezler". Hayâlî (d. 1557) is among the poets Özkat names as those to one of whose ghazals Fazlî wrote a response. In Hayâlî's opening couplet it is said that the adorner of the world is within the world and that people do not know it, as the fish within the sea do not know the sea. Fazlî keeps the phrase "cihān-ārā" and this thought in his opening couplet, but ties it to the beloved; this comparison is our own observation.

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. 337, ghazal no. 89 (Yapı Kredi Sermet Çifter Research Library 1082, fol. 29a); also pp. 41-42 (his remarks on his own poetry), p. 69 (redifs), pp. 99 and 101 (response poems) and p. 122 (description of the manuscripts), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.
  • Hayâlî Bey Dîvânı, ed. Ali Nihad Tarlan, Istanbul 1945, p. 125 (as cited by Özkat).

Online sources