Cûdî, Elegy 3: For His Son Nûrü'l-Hüdâ

Cûdî's elegy in the manner of a ghazal for his son Muhammed Nûrü'l-Hüdâ, who died young: a cup of joy turned to poison, a question to the sky, and a meeting at the Resurrection.

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fāʿilātün fāʿilātün fāʿilātün fāʿilün

Cām neşʾem oldı zehrā bekle ser-şār ey felek
Bende ṭāḳat ḳalmadı ṭoldurma tekrār ey felek
Olma Allāh ʿaşḳına böyle sitem-kār ey felek
Yıḳdıgıñ ḳalbi biraz gül ile iʿmār ey felek
Lüṭf idüp söyle ne semte gitdi dildār ey felek
Gitdigi yerler uzaḳ mı gelmedi yār ey felek

Göñlüme ḥasret ocagından düşer nār aġlarım
Gezdigi yerler o şūḫī eyler iḫtār aġlarım
Aġlarım cānānı yād eyler de tekrār aġlarım
Olmadım ḥālā mekānından ḫaber-dār aġlarım
Lütf idüp söyle ne semte gitdi dildār ey felek
Gitdigi yerler uzaḳ mı gelmedi yār ey felek

Yārimi ṣordum ṣabāya kim gülistāndan gelir
Mevkib-i ezhāra kim iḳlīm-i cānāndan gelir
Fırḳa fırḳa ḫūblar gördüm ki seyrāndan gelir
Bir bilen yoḳdur anı, hep gerçi ol nāyiş gelir
Lüṭf idüp söyle ne semte gitdi dildār ey felek
Gitdigi yerler uzak mı gelmedi yār ey felek

Aldıñ āġūş-ı viṣālimden meh-i tābānımı
Ẓulmet-i ḥasret iḥāṭa eyledi her yanımı
Eyleme dāmānıña āvīḫte-i efġānımı
Söyle göklerde aratdırma baña cānānımı
Lüṭf idüp söyle ne semte gitdi dildār ey felek
Gitdigi yerler uzak mı gelmedi yār ey felek

Münḫasif mi muġterib mi söyle māhım nerdedir
Pārelenmez āh ile ḥasret ne ẓālim perdedir
Yādı hep yādımdadır ṣoḥbetleri ezberdedir
Yār ile artıḳ mülāḳātım meger maḥşerdedir
Lüṭf idüp söyle ne semte gitdi dildār ey felek
Gitdigi yerler uzaḳ mı gelmedi yār ey felek
Seyyid Maḥmūd Kemāl İbnü'l-Emīn ʿaṣrihüm.

In English

1. My cup of joy has turned to poison; wait, O sky, it is brimming; I have no strength left, do not fill it again, O sky. For the love of God do not be so cruel, O sky; mend a little with a rose the heart you have ruined, O sky. Kindly tell me, which way did my beloved go, O sky? Are the places he went so far that my dear one has not come, O sky?

2. Fire falls into my heart from the hearth of longing, and I weep; the places he wandered remind me of that playfulness, and I weep. I weep, I remember the beloved and weep again; I still have had no news of where he is, and I weep. Kindly tell me, which way did my beloved go, O sky? Are the places he went so far that my dear one has not come, O sky?

3. I asked the dawn breeze that comes from the rose garden about my dear one; I asked the procession of flowers that comes from the clime of the beloved. I saw beauties in groups coming from their outing; there is none who knows him, though they all come (the reading is uncertain). Kindly tell me, which way did my beloved go, O sky? Are the places he went so far that my dear one has not come, O sky?

4. You took my shining moon from the embrace of my union; the darkness of longing has surrounded me on every side. Do not leave my lament hanging on your skirt; tell me, do not make me search the skies for my beloved. Kindly tell me, which way did my beloved go, O sky? Are the places he went so far that my dear one has not come, O sky?

5. Is he eclipsed, has he gone into exile? Tell me, where is my moon? What a cruel curtain is longing, that is not torn by sighs! His memory is always in my mind, his talk I know by heart; my meeting with my dear one, it seems, is at the Resurrection. Kindly tell me, which way did my beloved go, O sky? Are the places he went so far that my dear one has not come, O sky?

Literary and Historical Commentary

The last poem of the divan is an elegy written for the poet's son Muhammed Nûrü'l-Hüdâ, who died young. Havva Tok Yıldız's thesis states, on the basis of the poet's own words, that his first son Mehmed Nurülhüdâ died at an early age and that his other two sons, Ahmed Azmi and Hüseyin Sâfî, survived. The expression "teğazzül güne", in the manner of a ghazal, in the title explains the form of the poem: the poet writes his mourning for his son in the language of a love poem addressing a beloved. In the poem the son is called "dildâr", "yâr", "cânân" and "shining moon".

Each stanza of the five-stanza poem ends with the same two-line refrain: "Kindly tell me, which way did my beloved go, O sky? Are the places he went so far that my dear one has not come, O sky?" This repetition carries the helplessness of a father who sees death as a distant journey and waits for news from the sky. The first stanza begins with the cup of joy turning to poison; in the second the father weeps when he sees the places the child wandered; in the third he asks the dawn breeze, the flowers and the beauties returning in groups from their outing about his son, but no one knows him.

In the fourth and fifth stanzas the son is likened to a moon: taken from the embrace of union, eclipsed, or gone into exile. The last stanza ends with acceptance: the child's memory is in the father's mind, his talk he knows by heart; their meeting will now be only at the Resurrection. The note at the end of the poem records that the divan was written out by the poet's brother Ahmed Tevfik Bey. The quatrain earlier in the divan naming his little son Sâfî reciting the Qur'an, and the scene on the train where Sâfî points at the telegraph poles, come from the same family life; this elegy is the divan's most painful witness to it.

Bibliography

Zeynep Adıyahşi, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [43b-87b], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 131-132 (poem no. 286; manuscript fol. 86a-86b); introduction p. 2. http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116831.pdf
Havva Tok Yıldız, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [1b-43a], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, p. 3 (the poet's sons). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116853.pdf

Online sources