Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefāʿīlün mefāʿīlün mefāʿīlün mefāʿīlün

Riyānıñ naḳışı hiç bū-riyādan farḳı var yoḳdur
Mürāʾīniñ ḥaṣīr-i bī-bahādan farḳı var yoḳdur
Ġaraż taḥtında yā bir nefʾ-i nā-meşrūʿ żımnında
Duʿā-yı ḫayrıñ elbet bed-duʿādan farḳı var yoḳdur
Lebinde ẕikre baḳma bir de şeyḫiñ miʿdesin yokla
Ḥerīfiñ şīşe-i fülfül-nümādan farḳı var yoḳdur
Niçün ḥayvān-ı nāṭıḳ zuʿmuna zuʿmun ṭutar ḥüccet
O manṭıḳsız delīliñ iddiʿādan farḳı var yoḳdur
Hep eslāfından aḫẕ eyler lisānı, ʿilm-i insanī
ʿUlūm-ı ʿālemiñ ʿaks-ı ŝadādan farḳı var yoḳdur
Cünūnuñ nevʿine nisbetledir ʿālemde Leylāsı
Şu Mecnūnun o Ḳaysı mübtelādan farḳı var yoḳdur
Revān-ger müncizüñ maḥbes-i hāk-i vücūdumda
Ḥabābıñ sīnesinde bir hevādan farḳı var yoḳdur

In English

1. What difference is there between the pattern of hypocrisy and a reed mat (bûriyâ)? None. What difference between the hypocrite and a worthless mat? None.

2. What difference, surely, between a blessing uttered with an ulterior motive or for some unlawful gain and a curse? None.

3. Do not look at the remembrance of God on his lips, probe the sheikh's stomach too; what difference between the fellow and a flask that shows the pepper inside? None.

4. Why do you take a claim as proof for the claim of "the speaking animal"? What difference between that illogical proof and the claim itself? None.

5. Human knowledge always takes its language from those who came before; what difference between the sciences of the world and an echo? None.

6. Everyone's Leylâ in this world matches the kind of his madness; what difference between this Mecnun and that love-stricken Kays? None.

7. In the earthen prison of my being, what difference is there between (the soul) and the air in the breast of a bubble? None. (The first line is not entirely clear as read in the thesis.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

The redif (refrain) "farkı var yokdur" squeezes a question and its answer into one formula: is there a difference? There is none. This short formula builds a satirical language that wants to separate show from truth. Within the hezec pattern of four "mefâîlün" feet, the rhymes bûriyâ, bî-bahâ, bed-duâ, fülfül-nümâ, iddiâ, sadâ, mübtelâ and hevâ supply the material for this sorting.

The first couplet opens with a play of sound: "riyâ" and "bûriyâ", hypocrisy and a reed mat. The pattern of hypocrisy is no different from the weave of a mat; the hypocrite is nothing but a worthless mat. The second couplet equates a blessing uttered for gain with a curse. The third couplet aims the satire most openly at the sheikh: one should look not at the remembrance of God on his lips but at his stomach. The tradition of mocking the ascetic and the pious in divan poetry turns here into a portrait of a sheikh.

The fourth and fifth couplets reflect on logic and knowledge. Man's definition in the logic books is "hayvân-ı nâtık", the speaking animal; the poet says that a claim using this definition as proof is circular thinking that sets out to prove itself. The fifth couplet likens human knowledge to an echo that takes its language from those before. The sixth couplet leaves no room for originality even in love: Mecnun is no different from Kays, and everyone's Leylâ changes according to the kind of his madness.

Bibliography

  • Havva Tok Yıldız, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [1b-43a], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 33-34 (poem no. 23; manuscript fol. 8b-9a). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116853.pdf

Online sources