Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ḫayr-maḳdem ḫayr-maḳdem iy emīr-i kār-dān
Ḥamdü-lillāh kim seni gördük yine ṣaġ u ṣafā
Maḳdemüñden şol ḳadar sürdük ṣafā bulduḳ sürūr
Ṣanki ‘īd oldı hemān ehlen ü sehlen merḥabā
Başuma gün ṭoġdı el-ḥaḳ devletüm geldi yine
Devlet-ile tā ki geldüñ eyledüñ ‘arż-ı liḳā’
Sen gidelden derd-i hicrān ile dil bīmār-idi
Ḥamdü-lillāh kim ṭabīb-i vuṣlatuñ itdi devā
Ḫüsrevā maḫlaṣ du‘ā-gūyuñ durur Fażlī ḳuluñ
İzdiyād-ı devlete eyler du‘ā ṣubḥ u mesā’
‘Ömrüñi ḳā’im hemīşe dā’im itsün devletüñ
Ẕikrüñi ḫayr eyleyüp ḥaccuñ ḳabūl itsün Ḫudā

In English

1. Welcome, welcome, O capable emir; praise be to God that we have seen you once more safe and sound.

2. Your arrival brought us such delight and such joy that it was as if a feast day had come; welcome, welcome, greetings to you.

3. Truly the sun has risen upon my head, my good fortune has come back, for you have come in felicity and shown your face.

4. Since you left, the heart had been sick with the pain of separation; praise be to God that the physician of reunion with you has cured it.

5. O king, your servant whose pen name is Fazlî is the one who prays for you; morning and evening he prays for the increase of your fortune.

6. May God keep your life ever standing and your fortune lasting; may He make your name remembered with good and accept your pilgrimage.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a kıt'a (fragment) of six couplets (beyit); the second lines of the couplets rhyme on the sound -ā (ṣafā, merḥabā, liḳā', devā, mesā', Ḫudā), and Özkat counts this kıt'a as having full rhyme. The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün" of the remel family. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the fifth couplet, together with the word "maḫlaṣ" itself. The kıt'a is found in the Fazlî divan section of the miscellany in the Hazine collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum Library (fol. 230b) and in miscellany no. 314 of the Âşir Efendi collection in the Süleymaniye Library (fol. 127b). The only difference between the two manuscripts is the word "seni" (you) in the first couplet; the Âşir Efendi manuscript has "sizi" (you, plural of respect).

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The kıt'a is a poem of welcome. The repetition "Ḫayr-maḳdem ḫayr-maḳdem" in the first couplet and the Arabic greeting "ehlen ü sehlen merḥabā" at the end of the second convey directly the joy of a guest being received at the door. In the third couplet the idiom "başuma gün ṭoġdı" (the sun has risen upon my head, that is, my luck has turned) is used; Özkat illustrates this idiom with this couplet among the idioms found in Fazlî's poems. In the same couplet the word "devlet" occurs twice: in the first instance it means the poet's own fortune, in the second the felicity and greatness of the one who has arrived. In the fourth couplet separation is likened to an illness and reunion to the physician who cures it; this simile expresses devotion to a great man in the lover's language of the ghazal (gazel). In the fifth couplet the poet names himself by his pen name and, by using the word "maḫlaṣ" openly, brings his name into the prayer.

Historical Context

No proper name occurs in the kıt'a; the person addressed is called "emīr-i kār-dān" (the capable bey) and "Ḫüsrev" (king). Özkat states that the prayer in the last couplet, "ḥaccuñ ḳabūl itsün Ḫudā" (may God accept your pilgrimage), shows that the kıt'a was written to celebrate a high dignitary's return from the pilgrimage. Who this person was and in which year the return took place are unknown.

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. 377, kıt'a no. 4 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Hazine, fol. 230b; Süleymaniye Library, Âşir Efendi 314, fol. 127b); also p. 65 (on the kıt'as), p. 69 (rhyme) and p. 91 (idioms), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.

Online sources