Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Çünki yanuñca ṣalınmaḳ olmadı şemşīr-veş
İy kemān ebrū yiridür ḫāke düşsem tīr-veş
Yā çekerken yār elinde bir leṭāfet gördi kim
Ḳaldı engüştinde çeşmüm lā‘lden zih-gīr-veş
Ḫalḳa ḫalḳa ideli ‘āşıḳlaruñ ḳaddini yār
Ḫalḳ-ı ‘ālem birbirine girdiler zencīr-veş
Menzil-i maḳṣūda irüp isterem olam nişān
Tīrüñüñ budur öñünce varduġum naḫçīr-veş
Ehl-i cennetdür muḳarrer Fażliyā kilīsede
Yār olan Aṣḥāb-ı Kehf-i ‘ışḳ ile Ḳıṭmīr-veş

In English

1. It was not granted (to me) to sway at your side like a sword; O you whose eyebrow is a bow, it is fitting that I should fall to the ground like an arrow.

2. As the beloved drew the bow, my eye saw a grace in his hand; it stayed on his finger like a thumb ring (zihgir) of ruby.

3. Since the beloved bent the stature of the lovers ring upon ring, the people of the world have fallen upon one another like the links of a chain.

4. I wish to reach the station of my desire and become the target of your arrow; this is why I go before your arrow like game.

5. O Fazlî, whoever is a friend to the Companions of the Cave of love, like Qitmir, is surely of the people of paradise, even if he is in a church.

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 word) is the suffix "-veş", meaning "like" in Persian; Özkat counts this ghazal among those with a Persian word redif. The rhyme is formed by the sound "-īr" in the words "şemşīr, tīr, zih-gīr, zencīr, naḫçīr, Ḳıṭmīr". The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet in the form "Fażliyā". The ghazal is the ninety-eighth in Özkat's edition and is found only in the Fazlî divan section (fol. 243a) of the miscellany in the Hazine collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum Library. It is the ghazal that opens Özkat's section of the letter şın. It is not known to whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first four couplets of the ghazal are built on images of archery and arms. In the first couplet the sword hangs at the beloved's waist and sways at his side; this has not been granted to the lover, and he finds it fitting to fall to the ground like an arrow that has missed its mark. The words "şemşīr" (sword), "kemān" (bow), "ebrū" (eyebrow) and "tīr" (arrow) form a congruence of images (tenasüp). In the second couplet the "zih-gīr" is the ring archers wear on their finger while drawing the string; the lover's eye, reddened by tears of blood, is like a ruby thumb ring on the beloved's finger. The third couplet is one Özkat cites among the examples of the idiom "birbirine girmek" (to fall upon one another, to be thrown into turmoil): the beloved has bent the stature of the lovers ring upon ring, and people have fallen upon one another like the links of a chain. There is a pun (cinas) between "ḫalḳa" (ring) and "ḫalḳ" (people); this is our own observation. In the fourth couplet the lover goes before the beloved's arrow like game, in order to become its target.

The last couplet alludes to the story of the Companions of the Cave (Ashab-ı Kehf) told in the Sura of the Cave in the Qur'an. The dog that accompanied the youths sleeping in the cave is known in Islamic tradition by the name Qitmir and is counted an example of faithfulness. The poet says that whoever is devoted, like Qitmir, to the Companions of the Cave of love belongs to paradise, even if he is in a church. The choice of the word "kilīse" (church) suggests a conception of love that crosses religious boundaries; this is our own interpretation. This ghazal and ghazal ninety-nine, which follows it in Özkat's edition, are written in the same metre, with the same redif and the same rhyme; the words "tīr", "şemşīr", "naḫçīr", "zencīr" and "Ḳıṭmīr" are rhymes in both ghazals, and the two stand on the same leaf of the miscellany. This closeness 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. 342, ghazal no. 98 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Hazine, fol. 243a); also p. 69 (redifs), p. 91 (idioms) and pp. 119-120 (description of the manuscripts), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.

Online sources