Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fe‘ilātün Fe‘ilātün Fe‘ilātün Fe‘ilün
Çemenüñ zer varaḳından yine naḳḳāş-ı ḫazān
İtdi bayraḳlar ile naḳş-ı zemīni yeksān
Yine tekrār yazılmaġa ḫuṭūṭ-ı gülşen
Ṣafḥa-i bāġa ider berg-i ḫazān zer-efşān
Ḳorḳusından büzülüp beñzi ṣarardı bāġuñ
Şu ḳadar ḫışm ile geldi çemene bād-ı ḫazān
‘Ārıż oldı yine beñzer ki hevādan aña teb
Zerddür çihre-i ‘āşıḳ gibi rūy-ı büstān
Gördiler meclis-i gül-zāra ḥarīf oldı ḫarīf
Lāleler urdı ṭaşa sāġar-ı lā‘lini hemān
Berg-i bāġuñ kimisi sebz ü kimi gül-gūndur
Oldı gūyā ki zer-ān kāruña reng-i zer-ān
Beñzedi sīḫ-i kebāba yine şāḫ-ı gülşen
İtmege bülbülini āteş-i ġamda biryān
Bülbülüñ ṣıḳlıġı diñdi vü ḥużūrı uçdı
Gördi kim gül açılup oldı çemen ḫār-istān
Gördi cem‘iyyet-i gül-zār perīşān olmış
Yoldı sünbül ṣaçını ḫayli ḳarardı reyḥān
Ḫarc idüp sīm ü zerin yumdı cihāndan gözini
Gördi nergis ki degül bāḳi gül-istān-ı cihān
Ṣūreti zerd olup ṣayfda döndi ‘ayna
Öldi bir pīr-i ża‘īf olmış iken bāġ-ı cüvān
Geldi çün pīr-i mübārek-nefes-i bād-ı ḫazān
Terk-i tecrīd olup oldı aġaçlar ‘üryān
Seyr idüp böyle ḫazān olduġını gül-zāruñ
Ṭaşlar ile dögünüp nāle ider āb-ı revān
Gülşenüñ sır diyü esrārına vāḳıf olıcaḳ
Dikili ḳaldı ayaġ üstine olup ḫayrān
Nā-gehān ben de varup bāġa bu ḥāli gördüm
Anda bu maṭla‘-ı ġarrā dilüme geldi hemān
Olma maġrūr cihān bāġına iy dil bir ān
Kişinüñ āḫir irer ‘ömri bahārına ḫazān
Ne ḳadar tāze vü ser-sebz ise berg-i ‘ömrüñ
Zerd idüp pīre berāber ider anı devrān
Ṣanmaġıl berg-i ḫazān ḫāk olan āşüftelerüñ
Ten-i zerdidür urur raḳṣ hevā ile her ān
Yüri nergis gibi göz yum bu cihān bāġından
Ki degül göz yumup açınca bahāriyye zemān
Gülşen-i ‘ömrüñüñ aldanma bahārına bugün
‘Āḳıbet bād-ı ḫazān-ı ecel eyler vīrān
‘Āḳıbet ṭaşa çalar cām-ı ḥayātı çü felek
Lāle gibi yüri ur baġruña dāġ-ı ḫarmān
İsteseñ k’olasın āzād ḫazān-ı ġamdan
Medḥ-i memdūḥuñı sūsen gibi ḳıl derd-i zebān
Tīr-tedbīr felek-rütbet ü Behrām-ḥüsām
Zühre-ḳānūn u Ḳamer-sür‘at u Keyvān-eyvān
Muṣṭafā nām u Nişānī laḳab u ibn-i Celāl
Maṭla‘-ı ṣubḥ-ı seḫā menba‘-ı baḥr-i iḥsān
Bām-ı ḳadrinden anuñ düşse eger kim bir ḫışt
İne biñ yıl geçicek yarıla re’s-i Keyvān
Ḳadri şeh-bāz anuñ beyża gibi eflākı
Ḳanadı altına almış disem olmaya yalan
Rif‘ati ḳaṣrına eflāk anuñ ne pāye
Nerdübān olduġına eylemeñüz hīç gümān
Dili bir bülbül-i gül-zār-ı ma‘ānīdür kim
Eylemek luṭf-ı kelāmını bedī‘ ola beyān
Cümle eş‘ārı anuñ leşkeridür āteş-bār
Milk-i naẓm içre odur Ḫüsrev-i ṣāḥib-dīvān
Şu [ḳadar] fażl virüpdür aña Ḥayy ü Ḳayyūm
Ḥaşre dek vaṣf idemezler fużalā-yı devrān
Her zemānda gül-i ma‘nāyı görür dir minḳār
Bāġ-ı naẓm içre dili bülbül-i merġūb-elḥān
Ol durur Mīr ‘Alī Şīr’i zemānuñ şimdi
Cem‘ olur meclisine cümle-i ehl-i ‘irfān
Ḥaḳ naṣīb itmiş o kān-ı kerime seyf ü ḳalem
Dōstuñ tā yaza göñlin ḳıra a‘dāyı hemān
Luṭf idüp dōstlara düşmeni ḳahr eylemege
Bir eli cām ṭutar bir eli tīġ-ı raḫşān
Her zemān yüzine ṭutmazdı ḫacālet keffin
Dest-i dür-bārına öykünmese baḥr-i ‘Ummān
Ṭayy ide Ḫātem-i Ṭay nāme-i cūdı ol dem
Bilse nāmīdügin ol nāmeye anuñ ‘ünvān
Öykünürdi kef-i dür-bārına baḥr-ı Ḳulzüm
Ḳaṭre deryā-yı muḥīṭ olmaġa olsa imkān
Yüregi pārelenüp reşk ile ḫūn oldı velī
Dest-i yāḳūt-feşānını anuñ gördi çü kān
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 ḥayr-du‘ā ola hemān
Zer varaḳdan niçe kim bāġda naḳḳāş-ı ḫazān
İde bayraḳlar ile naḳş-ı zemīni yeksān
Gülşen-i devletüñi tāze vü ser-sebz ide Ḥaḳ
‘Ömrüñüñ hīç bahārına irişmeye ḫazān
In English
1. Autumn's painter, with the gold leaves of the meadow, has again unfurled banners and made the pattern of the earth all of one hue. (The word "yeksān" means both "uniform, of one colour" and "razed to the ground"; the couplet can also be read "has razed the ornament of the earth".)
2. So that the writings of the rose garden may be written anew, the autumn leaf sprinkles gold over the page of the garden.
3. The autumn wind came to the meadow in such wrath that the garden shrank in fear and turned pale.
4. The face of the garden is yellow like the face of a lover; it seems that a fever has again come upon it from the air (hevā: both "air" and "passion").
5. When the tulips saw that autumn (ḫarīf) had become a drinking companion (ḥarīf) at the gathering of the rose garden, they at once dashed their ruby cups against the stone.
6. Some of the garden's leaves are green, some rose-coloured. The second line is obscure; it gives a sense such as "as if the colour of gold had come to the goldsmith's work". (This reading is a conjecture.)
7. The branch of the rose garden has again come to resemble a kebab skewer, to roast its nightingale on the fire of grief.
8. The nightingale's fluttering ceased and its peace flew away, for it saw that the rose had opened and fallen apart and the meadow had become a field of thorns. (The exact sense of the word "ṣıḳlıġı" here is not clear.)
9. When the hyacinth saw that the gathered state (cem‘iyyet) of the rose garden had been scattered, it tore its hair, and the basil grew very dark.
10. The narcissus, seeing that the rose garden of the world does not last, spent its silver and gold and closed its eyes to the world. (The white petals of the narcissus are likened to silver, its yellow centre to gold.)
11. Its face turned yellow, summer (ṣayf) turned into the letter "ayn"; the young garden became a feeble old man and died. (The couplet rests on a play on letters, explained in the commentary.)
12. When the old master of blessed breath, that is, the autumn wind, arrived, the trees were left stark naked, like dervishes who renounce the world and turn to solitude.
13. Watching the rose garden fall thus into autumn, the running water beats itself against the stones and laments.
14. On learning the mysteries of the rose garden, which are called "secret", it stood rooted to the spot in amazement. (The line does not state its subject; that a tree of the garden is the one left standing is a conjecture.)
15. Suddenly I too went to the garden and saw this state; there at once this brilliant opening couplet came to my tongue:
16. O heart, be not deceived for a single moment by the garden of the world; in the end autumn reaches the spring of a man's life too.
17. However fresh and green the leaf of your life may be, time turns it yellow and makes it like an old man's.
18. Do not take the autumn leaf that has turned to dust for a leaf; it is the yellowed body of distraught lovers, dancing every moment with the air (hevā: both "air" and "passion").
19. Go, close your eyes to this garden of the world like the narcissus, for the season of spring does not last even as long as it takes to close and open the eyes.
20. Be not deceived today by the spring of the rose garden of your life; in the end the wind of the autumn of death lays it waste.
21. Since in the end the sphere dashes the cup of life against the stone, go, press upon your breast like the tulip the "dāġ-ı ḫarmān". (The sense of the word "ḫarmān" in the edition is not clear; read as "ḥirmān" it gives "the brand of deprivation". This reading is a conjecture.)
22. If you wish to be freed from the autumn of grief, make the praise of your patron the constant care of your tongue, like the lily. (The sense seems to call for the reading "vird-i zebān", a phrase ever on the tongue; this is a conjecture.)
23. (He is) Mercury (Tîr) in prudence, the sphere in rank, Mars (Behrâm) in the sword, Venus (Zühre) in the kanun (both the musical instrument and the law), the Moon in swiftness and Saturn (Keyvân) in the loftiness of his hall.
24. His name is Mustafa, his title Nişânî, and he is the son of Celâl; he is the rising-place of the dawn of generosity and the source of the sea of beneficence.
25. Were a single brick to fall from the roof of his rank, it would take a thousand years to come down and would split the head of Saturn (Keyvân).
26. If I said that the falcon of his rank has taken the spheres under its wing like an egg, it would be no lie.
27. What are the spheres to the palace of his eminence but a step; have no doubt that they are the ladder to that palace.
28. His tongue is a nightingale of the rose garden of meanings, so that to express the grace of his speech is the work of bedī‘ and beyān (the two sciences of rhetoric).
29. All his poems are his fire-raining soldiers; in the realm of verse he is Hüsrev, the master of a divan.
30. The Living, the Self-Subsisting (God) has given him so much excellence that the learned of the age could not describe it until the Day of Resurrection.
31. His tongue, a nightingale of beloved melodies in the garden of verse, at every moment sees the rose of meaning and plucks it with its beak.
32. He is now the Mîr Ali Şîr of the age; all the people of learning and gnosis gather at his assembly.
33. God has granted that mine of generosity the sword and the pen, so that he may write the friend's heart and break the enemies at once.
34. To show kindness to friends and to crush the enemy, one of his hands holds a cup, the other a gleaming sword.
35. Were the Sea of Oman not trying to emulate his pearl-raining hand, it would not at all times hold the palm of shame before its face.
36. Were Hâtem of Tayy to know that his famous name stands at the head of that letter of generosity, he would at that moment fold up the letter of generosity.
37. Were it possible for a drop to become the all-encircling ocean, the Red Sea (Ḳulzüm) would emulate his pearl-raining palm.
38. When the mine saw his ruby-scattering hand, its heart broke in pieces with envy and turned to blood.
39. O mine of generosity, how am I to praise you, when the whole world, were it to gather in one place, could not praise you.
40. Where is Fazlî, and where is being your eulogist; let the aim of his words be only a prayer for your good.
41. As long as autumn's painter, with gold leaf in the garden, unfurls banners and makes the pattern of the earth all of one hue,
42. may God keep the rose garden of your fortune fresh and green; may autumn never reach the spring of your life.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The poem is a kaside (qasida) of forty-two couplets. The metre is the "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün" pattern of the remel family. The rhyme is the sound "-ān" (ḫazān, yeksān, zer-efşān, büstān, hemān...); there is no redif (refrain word), and Özkat counts this kaside among those with rich rhyme. It has no title. According to Özkat the kaside is a "hazâniyye" written for the chancellor (nişancı) Celâlzâde Mustafa Çelebi, that is, a kaside opening with a prelude (nesib) on the season of autumn. The first fifteen couplets describe autumn. In the fifteenth couplet the poet says that he went to the garden, saw this state and that a brilliant opening couplet came to his tongue; the sixteenth couplet is a new opening couplet with both lines rhyming. Özkat identifies this as tecdîd-i matla, the renewal of the opening couplet in the middle of the kaside. Couplets 16-21 are admonitions on the transience of life; couplet 22 is the transition (girizgâh), which shows praise of the patron as the way to escape the autumn of grief. The patron's name is mentioned in couplet 24, and the praise continues as far as couplet 39. The pen name (mahlas) appears in couplet 40, and the kaside ends with a prayer of two couplets.
The kaside is the thirty-third in Özkat's edition. The text is found only in the miscellany Süleymaniye Library, Âşir Efendi 314 (fol. 126a). According to Özkat's description this miscellany was probably copied in the sixteenth century, and between fols. 106b and 127b it contains seventeen of Fazlî's kasides together with a few other poems. The "[ḳadar]" in couplet 30 is a restoration made in the edition.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The prelude describes autumn as a destruction; Özkat also presents Fazlî's thirtieth kaside, offered to Prince Selim, as a hazâniyye. Here autumn is a painter: it unfurls banners with the gold leaves of the meadow and sprinkles gold over the page of the garden. In the second couplet the garden is likened to a page whose writing is to be renewed, and the falling yellow leaves to the gold sprinkled over that page; "zer-efşān" means "gold-scattering". Özkat cites the words "yine" and "tekrār" (both meaning "again") in the same couplet as an example of synonyms from different languages used side by side, and says that it is open to debate whether this goes back to the poet or rather to the copyist.
Every being in the garden responds to this destruction like a human being. The garden shrinks in fear, turns pale and becomes like a lover stricken with fever; the tulips dash their cups against the stone, the nightingale loses its peace, the hyacinth tears its hair, the narcissus closes its eyes, the running water beats itself against the stones. In couplet 5 there is a pun (cinas) between "ḫarīf", meaning autumn, and "ḥarīf", meaning drinking companion; in couplets 4 and 18 the word "hevā" is used in the double sense of air and passion. In couplet 9 "cem‘iyyet" (being gathered together, peace of heart) is set against "perīşān" (scattered). These observations are our own. In couplet 12 the autumn wind is seen as an old master of blessed breath, and the trees that shed their leaves as dervishes stripping themselves of the world.
Couplet 11 rests on a play on letters. In Özkat's edition the "‘ayn" part of the word "‘ayna" at the end of the line is set in a different type (italics); what is meant is the letter "ayn". If a letter "ayn" is added to the word "ṣayf" (summer) written in Arabic letters and its first letter is given a dot, the word "ża‘īf" (feeble) is obtained. The phrase "pīr-i ża‘īf" (feeble old man) in the second line supports this reading: the summer season has turned yellow and become a feeble old man, and the young garden has died. This solution is our own inference.
After the renewed opening couplet the prelude turns into an admonition, and autumn is now carried over to a man's life. Özkat places couplet 16 among the couplets alluding to the proverb "there is no remedy for death". The expressions "closing the eyes" (couplets 10 and 19), "dashing against the stone" (couplet 21) and "the spring of life" (couplet 42) are also among the idioms collected by Özkat. In couplet 19 the narcissus now becomes an example: spring does not last even as long as it takes to close and open the eyes.
The section of praise opens with the stars. In couplet 23 the patron is likened to Mercury (Tîr) in prudence, Mars (Behrâm) in the sword, Venus (Zühre) in the kanun, the Moon in swiftness and Saturn (Keyvân) in the loftiness of his hall. In divan poetry Venus is a heavenly musician, and "ḳānūn" denotes both her instrument and the law; the choice of this word for a chancellor occupied with laws may be counted as a double entendre (tevriye). This double entendre is our own observation. In couplet 24 the patron's name, title and father's name are listed in a single line. In couplets 25-27 the hyperbole reaches its height: a brick falling from the roof of his rank takes a thousand years to reach the ground, and the spheres are a ladder leading up to his palace. Özkat mentions the expression "to take under one's wing" in couplet 26 among the idioms.
According to Özkat, Fazlî also speaks of the patron's poetry in couplets 28-33. In couplet 29 the patron's poems are likened to a fire-raining army and he is called "Ḫüsrev-i ṣāḥib-dīvān". Özkat connects this phrase with the Indian poet Hüsrev-i Dihlevî, who wrote in Persian, and the name "Mīr ‘Alī Şīr" in couplet 32 with the Chaghatay poet Ali Şîr Nevâî, and concludes from these expressions that Fazlî had read both poets. That "ṣāḥib-dīvān" can mean both the owner of a collection of poems (divan) and one who has a say in the council of state (divan) adds a second sense for a chancellor who was a member of the Imperial Council; the words "bedī‘" and "beyān" in couplet 28 are also the names of the two sciences of rhetoric. In couplet 33 the sword and the pen are paired with writing hearts and breaking enemies: the pen writes, the sword breaks. These observations are our own.
In couplets 35-38 the Sea of Oman, Hâtem of Tayy, the Red Sea and the mine are humbled before the patron's generosity. In couplet 36 there is a pun between "ṭayy" (folding up) and "Ṭay", the name of Hâtem's tribe; the words "nāme" (letter), "nāmī" (famous) and "‘ünvān" (heading) are in harmony with one another. A couplet recorded by the copyist in the same miscellany and quoted by Özkat in his description of the manuscript also says that Hâtem "folds up his letter" before a generous man (fol. 67a); this resemblance is our own observation. Özkat cites the verb "öykünmek" (to emulate) in couplets 35 and 37 as an example of the Old Turkish words that live on in Fazlî's poems, and the expression "one's heart breaking in pieces" in couplet 38 as an example of idioms. In the pen-name couplet the poet considers it too much for himself to be the patron's eulogist and turns his words to prayer.
The first couplet of the prayer is almost identical with the opening couplet. Özkat cites this as an example of Fazlî reusing within one poem an expression he liked, and notes that such repetitions may be a copyist's error but may also be the poet's deliberate choice. Autumn, described in the past tense in the opening couplet, becomes in couplet 41, through the pattern "niçe kim ... ide" (as long as ...), a measure stating the duration of the prayer: as long as autumns come, may autumn not come to the spring of the patron's life. Thus the description of autumn at the beginning of the kaside is placed at the end within the prayer offered for the patron.
Historical Context
According to Özkat the kaside was written for the chancellor Celâlzâde Mustafa Çelebi; the patron's name, title and father's name occur in couplet 24. Özkat says that Fazlî wrote four of his twenty-five eulogies for statesmen and scholars of the age; this kaside is one of them. Celâlzâde Mustafa Çelebi (d. 975/1567) was the son of Kadı Celâleddin. He was appointed chancellor in December 1534, held the office without interruption for twenty-three years, retired in 1557, became chancellor again in 1566 and held the post until his death. He was known by the title "Koca Nişancı" (the Great Chancellor) and won fame for his mastery of official correspondence and his knowledge of the law. His mansion in Eyüp was a place constantly visited by scholars and men of letters, and he himself patronized poets and gave them generous rewards. Özkat too mentions him as the man to whom Fuzûlî presented his famous letter of complaint and who was known as a poet and master of prose as well as a statesman. The words of couplet 32, that the people of learning gather at his assembly, agree with this information. It is not known when the kaside was written; the mention of the patron by the title "Nişânî" suggests that it was written in one of his years as chancellor, but this is an inference.
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, pp. 223-226, kaside no. 33 (Süleymaniye Library, Âşir Efendi 314, fol. 126a); also pp. 46 and 115 (language and repetitions), pp. 48 and 56 (on the kasides), p. 68 (rhyme), p. 89 (proverbs), pp. 92-94 (idioms and the poets who influenced him), pp. 105-106 (Old Turkish words) and pp. 118-119 (description of the manuscripts), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.
- Celia Kerslake, "Celâlzâde Mustafa Çelebi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 7, Istanbul 1993, pp. 260-262, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/celalzade-mustafa-celebi.
Online sources
