Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ūlü Mefā‘īlü Mefā‘īlü Fe‘ūlün

Göster bize yā Rabb cemālin Ramażān’uñ
Seyr eyleyelüm ḳaşı hilālin Ramażān’uñ
Seyr ile ṣunup ḥüsni nevālin Ramażān’uñ
Ḳıl rūzī-i şeb ‘īd-i viṣālin Ramażān’uñ
Ol māh ki ḫūrşīd-i żiyā-baḫş-ı cihāndur
Dil ṣavm-ı firāḳını ṭutar nice zamāndur
‘Ālem saña yā Rabb güneş gibi ‘ıyāndur
Ḳıl rūzī-i şeb ‘īd-i viṣālin Ramażān’uñ
Ebrūsı ġamı ḳaddümi döndürdi hilāle
Dil rūze-i hicrinde ider āh ile nāle
Ḳıl ḫᵛān-ı viṣālin baña yā Rabb ḥavāle
Ḳıl rūzī-i şeb ‘īd-i viṣālin Ramażān’uñ
Bir şeb beni yā Rabb o meh-i bedre irişdür
Ayaḳda ḳoma al elümi ṣadre irişdür
Luṭf eyle oruç ayı gibi ḳadre irişdür
Ḳıl rūzī-i şeb ‘īd-i viṣālin Ramażān’uñ
Bir kez göreyin yılda ben o ‘ārıżı māhı
İy Fażlī çıḳarsam n’ola ger göglere āhı
Göster baña ebrūsı hilālini İlāhī
Ḳıl rūzī-i şeb ‘īd-i viṣālin Ramażān’uñ

In English

1. O Lord, show us the fair face of Ramazan; let us gaze on the crescent that is Ramazan's eyebrow; laying before us, through that gazing, the bounty of Ramazan's beauty, grant us for one night the feast of union with Ramazan.

2. That moon is a sun that bestows light upon the world; for a long time now the heart has kept the fast of separation from him; O Lord, (my state) is as plain to you as the sun. Grant us for one night the feast of union with Ramazan.

3. Grief for his eyebrow has bent my stature into a crescent; in the fast of separation the heart moans with sighs; O Lord, assign me the table of his union. Grant us for one night the feast of union with Ramazan.

4. O Lord, bring me one night to that full moon; do not leave me standing, take my hand and bring me to the seat of honour; be gracious and bring me to worth (kadr), as in the month of fasting you bring us to the Night of Power (Kadir). Grant us for one night the feast of union with Ramazan.

5. Let me see that moon-faced one once a year; O Fazlî, is it any wonder if I raise my sighs to the heavens? My God, show me the crescent of his eyebrow. Grant us for one night the feast of union with Ramazan.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a murabba (quatrain stanza poem) of five stanzas. The first three lines of each stanza rhyme among themselves; the fourth is repeated in every stanza as the refrain "Ḳıl rūzī-i şeb ‘īd-i viṣālin Ramażān'uñ". In the first stanza all four lines end in "-ālin Ramażān'uñ"; "Ramażān'uñ" is the redif (refrain word) and the words "cemālin, hilālin, nevālin, viṣālin" are the rhyme. The rhymes of the other stanzas are "-āndur" (cihāndur, zamāndur, ‘ıyāndur), "-āle" (hilāle, nāle, ḥavāle), "-dre irişdür" (bedre, ṣadre, ḳadre) and "-āhı/-āhī" (māhı, āhı, İlāhī). The metre is the "mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün" pattern of the hezec family. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last stanza.

Özkat publishes the poem as the nineteenth musammat of the divan. The text is found only in the Fazlî divan section (fol. 226a) of the miscellany in the Hazine collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum Library; according to Özkat, this part was copied in 1149 (1736) and later bound in.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In listing the murabbas Fazlî wrote for famous beauties, Özkat connects this poem with a beauty called Ramazan. The whole construction of the poem is a double entendre (tevriye) resting on the two senses of this name: Ramazan is both the month of fasting and the name of the beloved. Every stanza carries the notions of the month and the fast over to the beloved. The beginning of the month of Ramadan depends on the sighting of the crescent moon; in the poem the crescent is the beloved's eyebrow, and in the first stanza the lover wishes to see "the crescent that is Ramazan's eyebrow", while in the last stanza he begs God to show him "the crescent of his eyebrow". Thus the poem opens and closes with the crescent.

The fast turns into separation: the lover keeps the "ṣavm-ı firāḳ" (fast of separation) and the "rūze-i hicr"; union is the "ḫᵛān-ı viṣāl", the table of union, which recalls the table at which the fast is broken. The "‘īd-i viṣāl" (feast of union) in the refrain also recalls the feast at the end of Ramadan. The word "ḳadr" in the fourth stanza stands both for the Night of Power (Kadir) within the month of fasting and for esteem and worth; rhyming with "bedr" (full moon) and "ṣadr" (seat of honour) in the same stanza, it brings together the notions of night, moon and honour. Özkat counts the words "al elümi" (take my hand) in this stanza among the examples of the idiom "to take someone's hand". In the phrase "rūzī-i şeb" (the night's portion) in the refrain, "rūz" (day) and "şeb" (night) stand side by side; with a word that belongs to the day, the prayer asks for a single night of union. The expression "once a year" in the last stanza joins Ramadan's coming once a year with the lover's being able to see the beloved only rarely.

The poem is written throughout in the language of prayer: the address "yā Rabb" (O Lord) appears in the first four stanzas and "İlāhī" (my God) in the last. The praise of a beauty in the language of the holy month is a clear example of the use of religious notions for love in divan poetry.

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. 245-246, musammat no. 19 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Hazine, fol. 226a); also pp. 57-58 (on the murabbas), p. 92 (idioms) and pp. 119-120 (description of the manuscripts), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.

Online sources