Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ṣaḫn-ı gül-zār-ı cihānda verd-i ḫandānum Ḥasan
Bāġ-ı dehr içre ḳadi serv-i ḫırāmānum Ḥasan
Yoluña olsun fedā ‘aḳl u delü cānum Ḥasan
İy melāḥat taḫt-gāhı üzre sulṭānum Ḥasan
Görmeyelden gözlerüm iy māh-ı bī-mihrüm seni
Ḫaste göñlüm göglere irgürdi āh u şīveni
Zehr-i hicrānuñ senüñ āḫir şehīd eyler beni
İy melāḥat taḫt-gāhı üzre sulṭānum Ḥasan
‘Ālem içre bī-nihāyetdür egerçikim güzel
Ḥüsn ile olmaz birisi de saña hergiz bedel
Yūsuf-ı s̱ānī durur dirsem eger ġāyet muḥal
İy melāḥat taḫt-gāhı üzre sulṭānum Ḥasan
Ḫūb-rūlar arasında bir güzel cānānesin
Bilmezem ḥūr u perī mi ya melek cānā nesin
Ḫāl-i ruḫsāruñ gibi ‘ālemde sen bir dānesin
İy melāḥat taḫt-gāhı üzre sulṭānum Ḥasan
Bir güzelsin ‘ālem içre bī-şebeh ü bī-naẓīr
Milket-i ḥüsn ü melāḥatda şeh-i ṣāḥib-serīr
Her gören biñ cān ile olsa ‘aceb midür esīr
İy melāḥat taḫt-gāhı üzre sulṭānum Ḥasan
Tīġ-ı hicrüñ ger Ḥüseyn-āsā beni ide şehīd
Dōstum yüz döndürürsem andan olayın Yezīd
Ḥaḳ Te‘ālā eylesün ‘ömrüñ senüñ her-dem mezīd
İy melāḥat taḫt-gāhı üzre sulṭānum Ḥasan
Fażlī-i bī-çāreyem düşdüm cemālüñden cüdā
Āh u nālem hem-nefes endūhdur maḥrem baña
Merḥamet ḳıl ḥālümi ‘arż eyledüm ben mübtelā
İy melāḥat taḫt-gāhı üzre sulṭānum Ḥasan

In English

1. My laughing rose in the courtyard of the rose garden of the world, Hasan; my swaying cypress in the garden of the world, Hasan; may my reason, heart and soul be sacrificed on your path, Hasan. O my sultan on the throne of beauty, Hasan.

2. O my loveless moon, since my eyes have not seen you, my sick heart has raised its sighs and laments to the heavens; the poison of separation from you will in the end make me a martyr. O my sultan on the throne of beauty, Hasan.

3. True, beauties in the world are countless, but none of them can ever equal you in beauty; if I were to call you "a second Joseph", that would be a quite impossible word. O my sultan on the throne of beauty, Hasan.

4. Among the fair-faced you are a lovely beloved; I do not know whether you are a houri, a fairy or an angel; O soul, what are you; like the mole on your cheek, you are one of a kind in the world. O my sultan on the throne of beauty, Hasan.

5. You are a beauty in the world without likeness or equal; in the realm of beauty and charm you are an enthroned shah; is it any wonder if all who see you become your captives with a thousand souls. O my sultan on the throne of beauty, Hasan.

6. If the sword of separation from you should martyr me like Hüseyin, my friend, may I become Yezid if I turn my face from it; may God Most High increase your life at every moment. O my sultan on the throne of beauty, Hasan.

7. I am helpless Fazlî, I have been parted from your beauty; my sighs and moans are my companions of breath, sorrow is my intimate; have mercy, I, the stricken lover, have laid my state before you. O my sultan on the throne of beauty, Hasan.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a murabba (quatrain stanza poem) of seven stanzas. The first three lines of each stanza rhyme among themselves; the fourth is repeated in every stanza as the refrain "İy melāḥat taḫt-gāhı üzre sulṭānum Ḥasan". In the first stanza all the lines end with the name "Ḥasan"; "-ānum Ḥasan" is the redif (refrain word) of this stanza (ḫandānum, ḫırāmānum, cānum, sulṭānum). The rhymes of the other stanzas are "-eni", "-el", "-ānesin", "-īr", "-īd" and "-ā". The metre is the "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün" pattern of the remel family. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last stanza. According to Özkat, this is the first of Fazlî's three murabbas of seven stanzas (musammats 14, 16 and 22).

Özkat publishes the poem as the fourteenth musammat of the divan. The text is found only in the Fazlî divan section (fol. 224a) of the miscellany in the Hazine collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum Library. According to Özkat's description, this part of the miscellany was copied in 1149 (1736) and later bound in; it bears the note "left unfinished".

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Among the murabbas of praise Fazlî wrote for beauties famous in his time, Özkat also counts this poem written for a beauty called Hasan. The poem combines the praise of a beloved with a complaint of separation. In the first stanza the beauty is called the laughing rose of the rose garden of the world and the swaying cypress of the garden of the world; in the third and fifth stanzas his matchlessness is stressed. The find in the third stanza is noteworthy: it is impossible to call the beauty "a second Joseph", for he surpasses even Joseph. Fazlî also uses the same idea in his kasides with the comparison "a second Alexander".

In the fourth stanza there is a pun (cinas): "cānānesin" (you are a beloved) and "cānā nesin" (O soul, what are you) are built from the same sounds; the word "dānesin" (you are one of a kind) in the stanza joins this web of sound. The beauty being "one of a kind" like the mole on his cheek makes a link between the singleness of the mole and the uniqueness of the beloved. The sixth stanza is an allusion that starts from the beloved's name: the beloved's name is Hasan; Hasan's brother Hüseyin was martyred at Karbala, and Yezid, remembered for having him killed, came to be named with a curse. The poet says that even if the beloved's sword of separation should martyr him like Hüseyin, he would not turn his face from it, and if he did, may he become Yezid. The names Hasan, Hüseyin and Yezid thus form a congruence of images (tenasüp). In Özkat's list of idioms "yüz döndürmek" (to turn one's face away) is illustrated from this stanza. In the last stanza the lover names sigh and moan as his companions of breath and sorrow as his intimate, and lays his state before the beloved.

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. 241-242, musammat no. 14 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Hazine, fol. 224a); also pp. 57-58 (on the murabbas), p. 94 (idioms) and pp. 119-120 (description of the manuscripts), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.

Online sources