Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Mefʿūlü fāʿilātü mefāʿīlü fāʿilün
Kenār u nūr-gāh-ı şecerden ẓuhūr ider
Allāh cihāniyān-ı eṣerden ẓuhūr ider
Pervāneye olur leheb-i şemʾadan ʿayān
Bülbüllere şukūfe-i terden ẓuhūr ider
Erbāb-ı ʿaşḳa ḥüsn-i ŝūrdan nişān virir
Ehl-i ṣubūḥa feyż-i seḥerden ẓuhūr eder
Ḳılmış yegāne vāsıṭa ŝunʿ-ı bedīʿ-ana
Ḥaḳḳıñ kemāli nevʾ-i beşerden ẓuhūr ider
Melḥūż-ı çeşm-i ʿārif olan kīmyā bulur
Feyż-i ledünn kemāl-i naẓardan ẓuhūr ider
Vā-beste ḫāl-i zülfüne cemʿiyyet ḳılup
Bir mülküñ intiẓāmı maḳarrdan ẓuhūr ider
Āmāc-ı iltifātı olan derd-keşlere
Gökden yaġar belā oḳı yerden ẓuhūr ider
Āṣār-ı ġayr-ı bāʿiṣ-i faḥr olmaz ādeme
Ferzend odur ki ṣülb-i pederden ẓuhūr ider
Çeşm-i kelīme nār-ı şecerden ẓuhūr ider
Seyr et cilveyi nerelerden ẓuhūr ider
Pervāneye şaʿile-i şemʾ-i maṭāf ider
Bülbüllere şukūfe-i terden ẓuhūr ider
Erbāb-ı ʿaşḳa ḥüsn-i ṣūrdan nişān virir
ʿĀriflere ṣafā-yı naẓardan ẓuhūr ider
Ekvāne mihr ü māhdan envār yaġdırır
Mirʾāt-ı mihre lemʿa, ya nerden ẓuhūr ider
Bir ẕerre yoḳ ki maẓhar-ı envār olmasun
Ẓann itme nūr-ı şems ḳamerden ẓuhūr ider
Ḳılmış yegāne vāsıṭa ṣunʿ-ı bedīʿane
Ḥaḳḳıñ kemāli nevʿ-i beşerden ẓuhūr ider
Āmāc-ı iltifātı olan mübtelālara
Gökden yaġar belā oḳı yirden ẓuhūr ider
Yoḳ ḥaḳḳımız şikāyete aġyār u yārdan
Her ne ẓuhūr iderse ḳaderden ẓuhūr ider
Nūr-ı kelīme berk-i şecerden ẓuhūr ider
Nār-ı ḫalīle nükte-i berden ẓuhūr ider
Keşf eyleyin ḥaḳīḳat-ı sırr-ı feŝemmeyi
Ḥaṣren dimez ki cebhe vü serden ẓuhūr ider
Pūşīde ṣanma nūr-ı cemāl-i ebed ẓuhūr
Mirʾāt-ı māsivāda nelerden ẓuhūr ider
Ekvāne mihr ü māhdan envār yaġdırır
Mişkāt-ı mihre lemʿa, ya nerden żuhūr ider
Bir zerre yoḳ ki maẓhar-ı envārı olmasun
Ẓann etme nūr-ı şems ü ḳamerden ẓuhūr ider
Pervāneye şuʿle-i şemʿi ḳılar muṭāf
Bülbüllere şukūfe-i terden ẓuhūr ider
Erbāb-ı ʿaşḳa ḥüsn-i ŝūrdan nişān virir
Ehl-i şuhūda baḳdıġı yirden ẓuhūr ider
Ḳılmış yegāne vāsıṭa ṣunʿ-ı bedīʿane
Ḥaḳḳıñ kemāli nevʿ-i beşerden ẓuhūr ider
Āmāc-ı iltifātı olan mübtelālara
Gökden yaġar belā oḳı yerden ẓuhūr ider
Yoḳ ḥaḳḳımız şikāyete Cūdī şuʾūndan
Her ne ẓuhūr iderse ḳaderden ẓuhūr ider
In English
1. (Light) appears from the edge and the place of light of the tree; God shows Himself from the worlds of His works.
2. To the moth it becomes manifest from the flame of the candle; to the nightingales it appears from the fresh blossom.
3. To the people of love it gives a sign through the beauty of forms; to those who drink the morning wine it appears from the bounty of dawn.
4. (God) has made man the one means of His wondrous art; the perfection of God appears from the human race.
5. Whatever the eye of the knower of God rests on finds the alchemy; the divine (ledün) bounty appears from the perfection of the gaze.
6. Making composure (cem'iyyet) depend on the state of the mole of the locks; the order of a realm appears from its seat. (The couplet is not entirely clear.)
7. For the sufferers who are the target of his favour, the arrow of affliction rains from the sky and springs from the earth.
8. The works of others are no cause of pride for a man; a child is one who comes from the father's loins.
9. To the eye of Kelîm (Moses) (the light) appears from the fire of the tree; behold from where the divine display appears.
10. It makes the candle's flame a place of circling for the moth; to the nightingales it appears from the fresh blossom.
11. To the people of love it gives a sign through the beauty of forms; to the knowers of God it appears from the delight of the gaze.
12. It rains lights upon beings from the sun and the moon; whence does the gleam appear on the mirror of the sun?
13. There is no mote that is not a place where the lights appear; do not think light appears only from the sun and the moon.
14. (God) has made man the one means of His wondrous art; the perfection of God appears from the human race.
15. For the love-stricken who are the target of his favour, the arrow of affliction rains from the sky and springs from the earth.
16. We have no right to complain of strangers or of the beloved; whatever appears, appears from fate.
17. To Kelîm (Moses) light appears from the lightning of the tree; to the fire of Khalîl (Abraham) it appears from the subtle word "be cool".
18. Uncover the truth of the secret of "fe-semme" (there is His face); it does not limit (the manifestation) to appearing from the brow and the head.
19. Do not think the light of beauty that appears eternally is veiled; behold in the mirror of all that is other than God from what things it appears.
20. It rains lights upon beings from the sun and the moon; whence does the gleam appear in the lamp-niche of the sun?
21. There is no mote that is not a place where the lights appear; do not think light appears only from the sun and the moon.
22. It makes the candle's flame a place of circling for the moth; to the nightingales it appears from the fresh blossom.
23. To the people of love it gives a sign through the beauty of forms; to the people of contemplation it appears from wherever they look.
24. (God) has made man the one means of His wondrous art; the perfection of God appears from the human race.
25. For the love-stricken who are the target of his favour, the arrow of affliction rains from the sky and springs from the earth.
26. Cûdî, we have no right to complain of the divine states (şuûn); whatever appears, appears from fate.
Literary and Historical Commentary
A Ghazal in Three Drafts
These twenty-six couplets, given in the thesis as a single poem, look on careful reading like three separate drafts of the same ghazal. The first section (couplets 1-8), the second (9-16) and the third (17-26) are built with the same redif ("zuhûr ider", appears), the same metre and largely the same couplets. The light that appears to the moth from the candle's flame and to the nightingale from the fresh blossom, the sign given to the people of love through the beauty of forms, man made the one means of God's art, and the arrow of affliction raining from the sky and springing from the earth recur in each section with small changes. Each section opens with a different matla (opening couplet): one speaks of a tree, two of the burning bush seen by Moses.
This suggests that the poet worked on the same ghazal several times and that the drafts passed into the divan together. The divan is known to have been written out by Cûdî's brother Ahmed Tevfik Bey; the brother may have copied the drafts in the poet's papers without sorting them. This is an inference; there is no note on the matter in the manuscript. The pen name appears only in the last couplet of the final section.
A Light that Appears Everywhere
The thought of the ghazal is the same in all the drafts: the divine light is not confined to one place, it appears from everything. It appears to Moses from the tree, to Abraham from the coolness of the fire; the "fe-semme" of the eighteenth couplet points to the verse "Wherever you turn, there is the face of God" (al-Baqara 2:115) and says that the manifestation is not confined to the brow laid down in prostration. The thirteenth couplet says that light appears not only from the sun and the moon but from every mote. The eighth couplet carries an unexpected moral lesson: one does not take pride in the works of others; a child is only one born of the father's loins.
Bibliography
- Havva Tok Yıldız, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [1b-43a], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 34-36 (poem no. 24; manuscript fol. 9a). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116853.pdf
Online sources
