Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ūlü Fā‘ilātü Mefā‘īlü Fā‘ilün

Tā tīġ-ı ṣun‘ ile ḳalem oldı varaḳ nigār
Oldı niẓām-ı ‘āleme tīġ u ḳalem medār
Mānend-i tīġ kesdi ḳalem ẓulmi dehrden
Tīġ eyledi ḳalem gibi ‘adl āyetin şikār
Ḳıldı ḳalem kerāmeti birle ẓuhūr-ı tīġ
Buldı ḳalem iżāfete tīġ ile i‘tibār
Tīġ u ḳalemle buldı s̱ebāt u ḳarār dehr
Tīġ u ḳalemle oldı cihān milki ber-ḳarār
Medḥüñde tīġuñ oldı ḳalem gerçi dür-feşān
Vaṣf-ı ḳalemde tīġuñ olupdur güher-nis̱ār
Tīġ oldı fer‘-i emn ü ḳalem aṣldur aña
Buldı emānı tīġ u ḳalem berr-i rūzgār
Tīġ u ḳalemle ḫıfẓ olınur genc ü milk ü māl
Tīġ u ḳalemle żabṭ olınur cümleten diyār
Ne tīġ bī-ḳalem virür a‘vāna intiẓām
Bī-tīġ ne ḳalem virür a‘dāya inḳışār
Tīġ olsa yāver-i ḳalem irer umūra naẓm
Cumhūra ‘adl olur ḳalem olursa tīġa yār
Ne tīġ nef‘ ider ne ḳalem intiẓāma līk
Tīġ-ı tedārik u ḳalem-i rāy-ı şehr-yār
Şeh Muṣṭafā ki tīġ u ḳalem ḥaḳḳı şehlere
Elṭāf ile ḳalem gibi ḳahr ile tīġ-vār
A‘dāya tīġ urup vire tā dōsta ḳalem
Ṣundı eline tīġ u ḳalem luṭf-ı Kird-gār
Ḥarf-i ‘adūya çekdi ḳalem tīġ-ı ḳahr ile
Hem tīġ u hem ḳalem olalı aña dest-i yār
Tīġı ḳalem gibi ḳılur a‘dā başın şikār
Mānend-i tīġ ider ḳalemi ḳaṭ‘ī kār-zār
Vaṣfını tīġınuñ nice taḥrīr ide ḳalem
Farżā k’ola zebān-ı ḳalem tīġ-ı āb-dār
Ger çekse bir ḳalem gele biñ tīġ-zen-i berīn
Bir tīġ ursa biñ ḳalemi ide tār ü mār
Emr itse bir ḳalem-zene bīñ tīġ-zen bize
Ẕī-tīġ-ı ḳudret ü ḳalem-i ‘izz ü iḳtidār
Erbāb-ı tīġ ehl-i ḳalem birle cem‘ olur
Olmasa ger ḳalem ola mı tīġ pāy-dār
Şāhā egerçi tīġ mühimdür ḳalem velī
Oldı ehem ki tīġ ḳalemsüz neye yarar
Ḫurşīd eline tīġ ‘Uṭārid ḳalem alup
Evṣāf-ı tīġ ile ḳalemüñ leyl ile nehār
Yazup çizüp sipihre ki bu tīġ u bu ḳalem
Tīġ-ı ḳażā durur ḳalem-i ḥükm-i Kird-gār
Luṭfuñla itdi tīġ mis̱āli ḳalem ẓuhūr
Ḳahruñla buldı tīġ ḳalem gibi iştihār
Ger görse tīġuñı çü ḳalem serfürū idüp
Bī-tīġ u bī-ḳalem ola a‘dā esīr ü zār
Alsañ ḳalem elüñe ḳuşatsañ belüñe tīġ
Tīġuñ ġamıyla ola ḳalem-veş ‘adū nizār
Çek tīġ-ı tīzi başını ḳaṭ‘ it ḳalem mis̱āl
Ḳılmaya tīġuña çü ḳalem kim ki ser-nis̱ār
Vaṣfında gerçi kim ḳalem ü tīġuñuñ şehā
Tīġ-ı zebānum oldı ḳalem-veş süḫan-güẕār
Ḥad yoḳ çü gördi ol ḳalem ü tīġ vaṣfına
Tīġ-ı ḫaṭīb gibi ḳalem oldı süst-i kār
Tīġ-ı zebānı çekdi ġazel ṭarzına ḳalem
Tā kim ola bu tīġ u ḳalem-i dehre yād-gār
Tīġuñ ġamından oldı ḳalem gibi ten nizār
Çek tīġı bāri kes çü ḳalem başum iy nigār
Tīġuñla her ḳaçan ḳalemüñ eyleseñ tırāş
Dil tīġ-ı reşk ile ḳalem-āsā olur figār
Baş eğmeye ḳalem gibi her kim ki tīġuña
Çek tīġı çü ḳalem başın iy tīġ iki yar
Barmaḳlaruñ durur çü ḳalem sā‘idüñ çü tīġ
Boynuma tīġuñ ol ḳaleme cān ola nis̱ār
Gül-zāra varsam ol ḳalem ü tīġ yādına
Çeşmüme ḫᵛāb olur ḳalem ü tīġ-ı tīz ḫār
Tīġuñ maẓālimini ḳalem nice şerḥ ide
Kim ol ‘aẓīm-i tīġ u ḳalem bir ża‘īf ü zār
Gel çekme tīġ-ı ẓulmi ḳalem çek maẓālime
Kim tīġ-ı ‘adli çekdi ḳalem-veş o ḳām-kār
Tīġuñ ḥaḳı ḳalem gibi yoluñda rāstdur
Fażlī ḳuluñ ki oldı ḳalem-gīr ü tīġ-vār
Tīġ-ı zebānı hem-çü ḳalem naẓm ile cerī
Nes̱r ile tīġ-veş ḳalemi maṣlaḥat-güẕār
Tīġumla eyledi ḳalemüm milk-i naẓmı fetḥ
Nuṣretde oldı ṣan ḳalemüm tīġ-ı Ẕülfeḳār
Bu ḫoş ḳaṣīde kim ḳalem ü tīġ vaṣfıdur
Bir tīġdur ki oldı ḳalem gibi üstüvār
Gel tīġ lāfın urma ḳalem çek du‘āya kim
Biñ tīġ u biñ ḳalemden o yeğdür hezār bār
Tīġ u ḳalemle tā ki bula milk infitāḥ
Tīġ u ḳalemle tā ki ire ḫaṣma inkisār
Tīġı ḳalem gibi ola fetḥ ile nām-zed
Ḳadr ile tīġ-veş ḳalemi ola nām-dār

In English

1. Ever since the pen began to adorn the page by the sword of creation, the order of the world has turned on the sword and the pen.

2. The pen, like a sword, cut tyranny away from the world; the sword, like a pen, brought the verse of justice to light. (The word "şikār" in the line has been understood as "āşikār", that is, manifest.)

3. The sword came forth through the miracle of the pen; the pen too gained esteem by being named side by side with the sword.

4. Time found stability and constancy through the sword and the pen; the realm of the world stood firm through the sword and the pen.

5. The pen has scattered pearls in praise of your sword; your sword has scattered jewels in describing the pen. (The "jewel" of a sword is the watered pattern of its steel.)

6. The sword is the branch of security and the pen its root; the face of the earth gained safety through the sword and the pen.

7. Treasure, realm and wealth are guarded by the sword and the pen; all lands are held by the sword and the pen.

8. Neither does a sword without a pen bring order to one's helpers, nor does a pen without a sword break the enemy.

9. If the sword helps the pen, affairs come into order; if the pen is a friend to the sword, justice comes to the people.

10. Neither sword nor pen serves order, unless it be the sword of prudence and the pen of the ruler's judgement.

11. He is King Mustafa, and both sword and pen befit kings; in his kindnesses he is like the pen, in his wrath like the sword.

12. So that he might strike enemies with the sword and give to friends with the pen, the grace of God held out the sword and the pen to his hand.

13. Ever since both sword and pen became friends to his hand, he has drawn the pen through the enemy's name with the sword of wrath. ("Kalem çekmek", to draw the pen through, means to strike out.)

14. His sword, like a pen, takes off the heads of enemies; his pen, like a sword, cuts battle short.

15. Even if the tongue of the pen were a keen sword, how could the pen write the description of his sword?

16. If he draws one pen, a thousand lofty swordsmen come running; if he strikes one sword, he scatters a thousand pens.

17. That king, master of the sword of power and of the pen of honour and might, can set one man of the pen over a thousand men of the sword. (The couplet is obscure; the meaning has been conjectured in this direction.)

18. The men of the sword come together with the people of the pen; without the pen, could the sword endure?

19. My king, the sword is indeed important, but the pen has become more important; for what use is a sword without a pen?

20. The sun taking the sword in hand and Mercury the pen, night and day they wrote and drew the virtues of the sword and the pen

21. Upon the sky: this sword and this pen are the sword of destiny and the pen of God's decree. (Mercury is held to be the star of scribes.)

22. By your kindness the pen came forth like a sword; by your wrath the sword won fame like a pen.

23. If the enemies saw your sword, they would bow their heads like pens and become captive and wretched, without sword and without pen.

24. Were you to take the pen in hand and gird the sword at your waist, the enemy would grow thin as a pen from dread of your sword.

25. Draw your keen sword; whoever does not offer his head to your sword as the pen does, cut off his head like a pen. (When a pen is trimmed its tip is cut off.)

26. My king, in describing your sword and your pen, the sword of my tongue has come to run on like a pen.

27. When the pen saw that there was no limit to the description of that sword and pen, it slackened and gave up the work like a preacher's sword. (Preachers held a wooden sword in their hands when they mounted the pulpit.)

28. The pen drew the sword of its tongue in the manner of the ghazal, so that this sword and pen might remain a keepsake to the world.

29. O beloved, from the grief of your sword my body has grown thin as a pen; at least draw the sword and cut off my head like a pen.

30. Whenever you trim your pen with your sword, my heart is wounded like a pen by the sword of jealousy.

31. Whoever does not bow his head to your sword as the pen does, draw the sword and cut off his head like a pen. (The words "iy tīġ iki yar" at the end of the line are not entirely clear; they may be understood as "O beloved like a two-edged sword".)

32. Your fingers are like the pen, your wrist like the sword; your sword upon my neck, may my soul be a sacrifice for that pen.

33. If I went to the rose garden remembering that pen and sword, sleep would become a pen to my eyes and the thorn a keen sword.

34. How should the pen recount the cruelties of your sword; that cruelty is as great as sword and pen, while the pen is a weak and moaning thing.

35. Come, do not draw the sword of tyranny, draw the pen through your cruelties; for that fortunate king has drawn the sword of justice like a pen.

36. By the right of your sword, your servant Fazlî, who holds the pen and has become like a sword, is straight as a pen upon your path.

37. The sword of his tongue is bold in verse like a pen, and his pen in prose is effective like a sword.

38. My pen conquered the realm of verse with my sword; in victory my pen became, as it were, the sword Zülfikar. (Zülfikar is the sword of Ali.)

39. This fine kaside, which is a description of the pen and the sword, is a sword as firm as a pen.

40. Come, leave talk of the sword and draw the pen towards prayer, for prayer is a thousand times better than a thousand swords and a thousand pens.

41. As long as realms are conquered by sword and pen, as long as the foe is broken by sword and pen,

42. May his sword, like a pen, be named for conquest, and his pen, like a sword, be renowned for its worth.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a kaside (qasida) of forty-two couplets (beyit). The metre is the "mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün" pattern of the muzari family; the rhyme is the sound "-ār": nigār, medār, şikār, i‘tibār, ber-ḳarār and the same sound in the following couplets. Mustafa Özkat defines it as a kaside in praise of Şehzade Mustafa in which the sword and the pen are described and the idea that the two cannot be separated from each other is defended. The poet names the person praised in couplet 11; in couplet 29 he makes a tecdid-i matla, and a tegazzül, that is, a ghazal section within the kaside, continues up to couplet 36, where he uses his pen name (mahlas). This transition is stated openly in couplet 28: the pen has drawn the sword of its tongue "in the manner of the ghazal". The kaside ends with a prayer in which the concepts of sword and pen are kept up.

Özkat publishes the kaside as the twenty-fourth kaside of the divan from miscellany no. 1966 of the Revan collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum Library (fol. 126a); no other copy of the poem is known. The title in the manuscript is "Ḳaṣīde-i Fażlī Efendi tīġ u ḳalem-i mükerrem". The first line of the eighth couplet reads "ne tīġ u bī-ḳalem" in the manuscript; Özkat considered it better for the sense to remove the conjunction "u".

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The most marked feature of the kaside is that the words "tīġ" (sword) and "ḳalem" (pen) are used together in almost every couplet. This insistent repetition gives the whole poem the character of a display of verbal skill: the poet succeeds in using the same two words in different relations of meaning throughout forty-two couplets. Sword and pen are sometimes likened to each other, sometimes put in each other's place, sometimes shown to need each other. In the sixth couplet the sword is the branch of security and the pen its root; in the eighth, neither a sword without a pen nor a pen without a sword is of any use; in the nineteenth it is said that the sword is important and the pen more important.

The comparisons between pen and sword draw on the shape and use of the two instruments. When a pen is trimmed its head is cut off; hence in couplets 25 and 29 the head cut off by the sword is likened to the trimmed tip of the pen. The pen writes bending; in couplets 23 and 31 the enemies who bow their heads resemble pens. The thinness of the pen corresponds in couplets 24 and 29 to the frailty of the lover and of the enemy, and the straightness of the pen in couplet 36 to the poet's loyalty. "Kalem çekmek" in couplets 13 and 35 is the idiom meaning to strike out; Özkat also counts the expression "baş eğmek" (to bow the head) in couplet 31 among the poet's idioms. In couplets 20 and 21 the sun holds the sword and Mercury, the star of scribes, the pen, and the sky becomes a page on which the virtues of these two instruments are written.

In the ghazal section of couplets 29-36 the same two words are carried into the language of love: the beloved's sword cuts off the lover's head, when the beloved trims a pen with the sword the lover's heart is wounded with jealousy, the beloved's fingers are like the pen and the wrist like the sword. In couplets 36-38 the poet presents himself too as a man of both sword and pen: the sword of his tongue is masterly in verse and his pen in prose; his pen has become a Zülfikar that conquers the realm of poetry. These couplets show a divan secretary, himself a man of the pen, stressing the worth of his own profession while praising both the sword and the pen of the prince.

Historical Context

The name "Şeh Muṣṭafā" appears in couplet 11 of the kaside; Özkat takes the kaside as written in praise of Şehzade Mustafa. Fazlî served as secretary in Mustafa's divan at Amasya from 1543 to 1553; the year of the kaside is unknown. The subject of the kaside reflects the government at a sanjak governor's court, carried on jointly by military affairs and the affairs of writing, that is, by the men of the sword and the men of the pen; the words "erbāb-ı tīġ" and "ehl-i ḳalem" in couplet 18 name these two groups directly. The poet's counting the pen as more important than the sword in couplet 19 is also a defence of his own place as the prince's divan secretary.

Bibliography

Online sources