Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fe‘ilātün Fe‘ilātün Fe‘ilātün Fe‘ilün

Kef-i ebr ile olup yine semā sīm-efşān
Sā’il-i āba gümiş külçeler itdi iḥsān
Bāġ olmış idi ḥummā-yı ḫazāndan maḥrūr
Ezdi kāfūr dimāġına ṭabīb-i devrān
Yaḳdı ḳalbinde şitā anuñ içün āteş-gīn
Ṣovısa göñli cihānuñ n’ola andan her an
‘Asker-i serdini cem‘ eyledi sulṭān-ı şitā
Ḳılmaġa memleket-i bāġı ser-ā-ser vīrān
Ḫüsrev-i bāġa ṣalup peyk-i ṣabāyı ol
Bu bürūdet ḫaberin eyledi taḳrīr ü beyān
İşidicek dem-i serdini bu resme tā dek
Geçdi aḳ baḳ yüzi ḫavf itdi ziyāde büstān
Yoḳ bilüp kendüyi ġāyet de zemīn saḫt oldı
Kefen ü penbesini eyledi ḥāżır ol an
Şāh-ı ḫāver işidüp ḳaçdı hemān baş alup
Eyledi ḳal‘a-i eflākda kendin pinhān
Göricek anı geyüp eğnine āyīne zire
Ṭurdı ceng itmege peklendi ḳatı āb-ı revān
Çıḳarup berg-i niyāmından anı gördügi dem
Aldı her şāḫ-ı şecer destine bir sīm-sinān
Ceyş-i dem serd bürūdet es̱erin ‘arż idicek
Eyledi cümle-i dünyāyı muṭī‘ ü fermān
Zīr-i dest oldı cihān Ḫüsrev’[i] yirde gördi
Ṭurmışuz ditremege didi ḳamu ḫalḳ-ı cihān
Günine göre geyüp görkini herkes ol dem
Ḫānesin ḳıldı ḥiṣār eyledi kendin pinhān
Geçdi oturdı serīrine zemīnüñ şeh-i berf
Oldı her yirde sözi ṣu gibi cārī vü revān
Feraḫından şu ḳadar sīm nis̱ār eyledi kim
Ġarḳ-ı sīm eyledi dünyā-yı denīyi yeksān
Bir elin öñine ardına ṭutarken birini
Eyledi ‘ar‘ara bir ḫil‘at-ı sīmīn iḥsān
Ġarḳ-ı sīm eyledi dünyāyı kef-i cūdı temām
Nitekim Ḥażret-i Şeh-zāde-i Sulṭān-ı Cihān
Müşterī fıṭnat ü meh ṭal‘at u ḫūrşīd es̱er
Zühre ḳānūn ü felek rütbet ü keyvān eyvān
Muṣṭafā nām u ‘Alī cūd u Muḥammed aḫlāḳ
Şāh-ı şāhān-ı cihān Ḫüsrev-i Ḫāḳān-ı zemān
Devr ider ‘arṣa-i ḳadrine nihāyet bulımaz
Kūy-ı çerḫ olalı çevgān ḳaderden ġalṭān
Bir ‘imāretdür anuñ rif‘ati ḳaṣrı kim aña
Yiridür olsa tetimmāt ṭoḳuz ḳat eyvān
Rif‘ati ḳaṣrınuñ eṭrāfın anuñ peyk-i ḫayāl
Ḥaşre dek devr idemez āḫir olur ser-gerdān
Dest-i cūd ile bulur zīveri ‘aḳd-i eyyām
Bād-ı luṭf ile olur tāze gül-istān-ı cihān
Ṭayy ide Ḥātem-i Ṭay nāme-i cūdı ol dem
Bilse nāmidügin ol nāmeye anuñ ‘ünvān
Virdi Ḥaḳ destine çevgān-ı sa‘ādātı anuñ
Ma‘delet ṭopını ursun ki anuñdur meydān
Nice medḥ eyleyem iy kān-ı kerem ben seni kim
Bir yire gelse seni medḥ idemez cümle cihān
Ḳande Fażlī vü senüñ mādiḥüñ olmaḳ ḳande
Sözlerinden ġarażı ḫayr du‘ā ola hemān
İtme taṭvīl-i kelām eyleme taṣdī‘-i ‘iẓām
Aç elüñ ṣıdḳ ile ol şāha du‘ā eyle hemān
Ḥākim oldıḳca cihān milkine sulṭān-ı şitā
Eyleyüp cümle-i dünyāyı muṭī‘ü fermān
Ṣaḳlayup gülşen-i ‘ömrüñi şitādan Bārī
Devletüñ bāġını ser-sebz ide mānend-i cinān

In English

1. With the palm of the cloud the sky has once more begun scattering silver; it has bestowed ingots of silver on the flowing water. ("Sā’il" means both a beggar and flowing; the silver ingots given to the flowing water are ice.)

2. The garden had been feverish with the autumn fever; the physician of time crushed camphor on its brow. (Snow is likened to the white camphor used against fever.)

3. Winter lit a fire in its own heart for the garden; small wonder if the heart of the world grows cold from it at every moment.

4. The sultan of winter gathered his army of cold to lay waste the realm of the garden from end to end.

5. He sent the courier of the morning breeze to the ruler of the garden and announced the news of this cold.

6. When the garden heard his cold breath in this way, its face turned white with fear.

7. The earth, counting itself as dead, grew very hard; at that moment it made ready its shroud and its cotton. (The snow-covered earth is likened to a man who prepares for death and keeps his shroud and cotton ready.)

8. When the king of the east, that is, the sun, heard of it, he at once fled headlong and hid himself in the fortress of the heavens.

9. When the flowing water saw him, it put on a coat of mail bright as a mirror, stood up to fight and grew quite rigid. (Frozen water is likened to a soldier in armour.)

10. The moment every branch of the trees saw him, it drew from its sheath of leaves and took in hand a silver spear. (The icicles hanging from the branches are likened to spears.)

11. When the army of cold breath showed the effect of the cold, it made the whole world obedient and subject to its command.

12. The world fell into his hands, he saw its ruler, the sun, on the ground; all the people of the world said, "We stand here to tremble". (The words describe both standing in trembling respect before a ruler and shivering with cold.)

13. At that moment everyone put on his fur according to the day, made his house a fortress and hid inside.

14. The king of snow came and sat on the throne of the earth; his word now ran everywhere like water.

15. From his abundance he scattered so much silver that he drowned the base world in silver from end to end.

16. While everyone held one hand before him and the other behind him for the cold, he bestowed a silver robe of honour on the juniper. (The snow on the juniper is likened to a silver robe.)

17. Just like his Highness the prince, son of the sultan of the world, the generous palm of winter drowned the world entirely in silver.

18. He is Jupiter in intelligence, the moon in countenance, the sun in influence; Venus in harmony, the sky in rank, Saturn in the height of his hall.

19. Named Mustafa, with the generosity of Ali and the character of Muhammad; king of the kings of the world, sovereign of the khans of the age.

20. Ever since the ball of the sky was set rolling by the polo stick of destiny, it has ranged the field of his worth without finding its end. (The çevgân is the curved stick of a ball game played on horseback.)

21. His eminence is such an edifice that the hall of the nine heavens could only be an annex to it.

22. Were the courier of imagination to roam until the Resurrection, it could not finish going round his lofty palace; in the end it would grow dizzy.

23. The necklace of the days finds its ornament from his generous hand; the rose garden of the world is refreshed by the wind of his grace.

24. If Hâtem of Tayy knew what name stands at the head of his letter of generosity, he would at once fold up his own letter of generosity.

25. God has placed the polo stick of felicity in his hand; let him strike the ball of justice, for the field is his.

26. O mine of bounty, how shall I praise you, when the whole world gathered together could not praise you?

27. Where is Fazlî, and where is being your panegyrist? Let the aim of his words be only a good prayer.

28. Do not prolong your speech, do not weary the great; open your hands in sincerity and pray at once for that king.

29. As long as the sultan of winter rules over the realm of the world, making the whole world obedient to him,

30. May God protect the rose garden of your life from winter and make the garden of your fortune green like paradise.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a kaside (qasida) of thirty couplets (beyit). The metre is the "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün" pattern of the remel family; the rhyme is the sound "-ān": sīm-efşān, iḥsān, devrān, her an, vīrān and the same sound in the following couplets. Mustafa Özkat defines the kaside as a şitaiyye, a winter poem, addressed to Şehzade Mustafa and written in the classical conception of the kaside. The sixteen-couplet introductory section (nesib) tells of the coming of winter like a story of war; couplet 17 makes the transition to praise; the name of the person praised appears in couplet 19 and the poet's pen name (mahlas) in couplet 27; the kaside ends with a three-couplet prayer. The prayer returns to the image of winter: as long as winter rules the world, may the garden of the prince's life be protected from winter.

Özkat publishes the kaside as the twenty-sixth kaside of the divan from miscellany no. 1966 of the Revan collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum Library (fol. 153b); no other copy of the poem is known. The title in the manuscript is "Ḳaṣīde-i Fażlī berāy-ı Sulṭān Muṣṭafā". The suffix in square brackets in the word "Ḫüsrev'[i]" in couplet 12 is a completion made in the edition for the metre.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Özkat notes that in the introductory section, written in a narrative style, the poet mainly uses personification. Winter is a sultan; he gathers his army of cold to lay waste the realm of the garden and sends the morning breeze as his courier. The garden turns white with fear, the earth makes ready its shroud and cotton, the sun flees headlong to the fortress of the heavens, the flowing water puts on a mirror-bright coat of mail and grows rigid, and the branches of the trees draw silver spears from their sheaths of leaves. In the end the king of snow sits on the throne of the earth and his word runs everywhere like water. Özkat gives this last couplet as an example of the use in poetry of the idiom "her yerde sözü geçmek", to have one's word obeyed everywhere; the comparison "like water" also hints quietly at the melting of snow in an icebound world.

Özkat also sees in these couplets details of the everyday life of the period. In the second couplet the physician of time crushes camphor on the brow of the garden feverish with the autumn fever; Özkat says these words tell us that camphor was used in treating fever. In the seventh couplet the snow-covered earth is likened to a prudent man who, thinking that death may come at any moment, keeps his shroud and cotton ready so as not to be a burden to anyone. "Günine göre görkini geymek" in couplet 13, putting on one's fur according to the day, recalls an idiom; Özkat also counts the expressions "yüzü geçmek" and "başını alıp gitmek" (to flee headlong) in couplets 6 and 8 among the poet's idioms.

Throughout the kaside the comparison between snow and silver is the bearing image. The sky scatters silver with the palm of the cloud, bestows silver ingots on the flowing water and clothes the juniper in a silver robe. In couplet 17 this image is tied to the praise: as the generous palm of winter drowns the world in silver, so the prince's generosity floods the world with silver. The word "sā’il" in the first couplet is a double entendre (tevriye), meaning both a beggar and flowing; thus snow and ice turn into alms given to a beggar. In the section of praise the prince is associated with Jupiter, the moon, the sun, Venus, the sky and Saturn; the images of polo stick and ball in couplets 20 and 25 draw on this courtly game played on horseback.

Historical Context

The title and the words "Muṣṭafā nām" in couplet 19 show that the kaside was presented to Şehzade Mustafa; in couplet 17 he is called "Şeh-zāde-i Sulṭān-ı Cihān", son of the sultan of the world. Fazlî served as secretary in Mustafa's divan at Amasya from 1543 to 1553; it is not known in which winter the kaside was written. Seasonal kasides such as the nevruziye, hazaniye and şitaiye are poems that poets presented to rulers at the turning of the seasons; Fazlî's divan contains for Mustafa a nevruziye (kaside 16) and this şitaiye.

Bibliography

Online sources