Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Nice bir ben mübtelāya mübtelālıḳlar begüm
Sen şehe hercāyiliḳler bī-vefālıḳlar begüm
Baġrumı ḫūn itdi ḥasretler cüdālıḳlar begüm
Kāş ezelden olmayaydı āşinālıḳlar begüm
‘Işḳ ḥālin añlamazsın çünki ‘āşıḳ olmaduñ
Ḥikmet-i ‘ışḳ içre göñlüm gibi ḥāẕıḳ olmaduñ
Bī-vefā olduñ reh-i ‘ışḳ içre ṣādıḳ olmaduñ
Kāş ezelden olmayaydı āşinālıḳlar begüm
Ne cemālüñ görmege bir laḥẓa var ḳudret baña
Ne taḥammül itmege bir ẕerrece ḳudret baña
Ḥaḳ bu kim ‘ālemde ḥayf olmış durur ġāyet baña
Kāş ezelden olmayaydı āşinālıḳlar begüm
Ḳanlu yaşım çihre-i zerdümi gül-gūn eyledi
Miḥnet-i ‘ışḳuñ benüm ḥālüm diger-gūn eyledi
Ṭa‘n-ile düşmenlerüm ḫod baġrumı ḫūn eyledi
Kāş ezelden olmayaydı āşinālıḳlar begüm
Gūşe gūşe bilmezem kimler durur hem-demlerüñ
Ḳanġı nā-maḥremler oldı iy ‘aceb maḥremlerüñ
Nice çeksün Fażlī-i bī-çāre derd ü ġamlaruñ
Kāş ezelden olmayaydı āşinālıḳlar begüm

In English

1. My lord, how much longer these afflictions for me, the stricken lover; and for you, the shah, fickleness and faithlessness; longings and separations have turned my breast to blood. Would that there had been no acquaintance from eternity, my lord.

2. You do not understand the state of love, since you have never been a lover; you have never been as skilled as my heart in the wisdom of love; you have been faithless, you have not been true on the road of love. Would that there had been no acquaintance from eternity, my lord.

3. I have neither the strength to see your beauty for a moment, nor the strength to endure a mote of this; truly, it has been a great pity for me in the world. Would that there had been no acquaintance from eternity, my lord.

4. My bloody tears have made my yellow face rose-coloured; the affliction of your love has changed my state entirely; and my enemies with their reproaches have turned my breast to blood. Would that there had been no acquaintance from eternity, my lord.

5. I do not know who your confidants are in every nook and corner; O strange one, what strangers have become your intimates; how is helpless Fazlî to bear your pains and griefs. Would that there had been no acquaintance from eternity, my lord.

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 "Kāş ezelden olmayaydı āşinālıḳlar begüm". In the first stanza all the lines end with the redif (refrain word) "-lıḳlar begüm". There are redifs in the other stanzas too: "olmaduñ" in the second, "baña" in the third, "eyledi" in the fourth; the rhyme of the fifth stanza is "-emlerüñ". 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. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Özkat publishes the poem as the sixth musammat of the divan. The text is found only in the Fazlî divan section (fol. 221b) 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", and some of its leaves are missing.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem expresses regret for a love that began in eternity. The word "ezel" (eternity without beginning) in the refrain recalls the belief in divan poetry that souls first met at the moment of creation, that is, that the lover knew the beloved before ever coming into the world. The poet wishes that this meeting had never happened; thus the idea that love is an inescapable burden given by destiny is stated in reverse. Addressing the beloved as "begüm" (my lord) shows that in divan poetry the beloved was often thought of as a young man.

In the second stanza lover and beloved are compared: the beloved, never having been a lover, does not understand the state of love, is not as skilled as the lover's heart in the wisdom of love, and is not true on the road of love. In the third stanza the word "ḳudret" (strength) is used as the rhyme in two lines; the lover has the strength neither to see the beloved nor to endure separation. The fourth stanza has almost the same rhymes and the same construction as a stanza in Fazlî's second murabba: there too the tears have made the face "gül-gūn" (rose-coloured), the affliction has made the state "diger-gūn" (changed), and the breast has become "ḫūn" (blood). It appears that the poet reused an expression he liked in different poems. The bloody tears turning the yellow face rose-coloured make a contrast of colour between yellow and red. In the last stanza it is not known with whom the beloved is intimate; the contrast between "nā-maḥrem" (stranger) and "maḥrem" (intimate) gathers jealousy into a single line. The language is plain; the plainness Özkat notes in Fazlî's murabbas is seen in this poem too.

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. 235, musammat no. 6 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Hazine, fol. 221b); also pp. 57-58 (on the murabbas) and pp. 119-120 (description of the manuscripts), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.

Online sources