Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün

Olmadı madame kim şiyri senin, Leylâ benim
Haydi ey ferhadı aşık dağ senin, sahra benim.
Işkı zen dağ deldirir, merdane sahra ölçtürür
Yar içün dağlar yaran sen, badiye peyma benim.
Karı gahi ışkı naklettik bu ıssız yerlere
Dağda huyu ha senin, sahrada vaveylâ benim.
Aklı verdin evvelâ mehri muaccel namına
Nevbeti mehri müeccel ya senindir, ya benim.
Zehri hicranı bir az tatlı ile bastırmak içün
Vasla mahsuben gelen helva senin, belva benim.
Gitti dünadan denür Leylâ bana eş kalmadı
Yoksa ma fihası boştur çeşmime dnya benim.
Isrimizdir hurmet eyler silmez elbet
Bi sütunda el senin, bi dade nefsipa benim.
Işkdan kam almadık nam aldık amma CUDİ ya
Kûhiken meşhur matrubilmesel şeyda benim.

In English

1. Since Şirin did not become yours, nor Leylâ mine, come then, O Ferhad the lover: the mountain is yours, the desert mine. (The word "şiyri", as far as can be made out from the corrupt reading in the edition, is Şîrîn.)

2. Love makes (one man) pierce a mountain and (another) manfully measure out the desert; it is you who split mountains for the beloved, and I who pace the wilderness (bâdiye-peymâ).

3. We moved the workshop (kâr-gâh) of love to these desolate places; the din on the mountain is yours, the wailing in the desert mine.

4. First you gave your reason as the bride-price paid in advance (mehr-i muaccel); now it is the turn of the deferred bride-price (mehr-i müeccel, that is, life itself): it is either yours or mine.

5. To soften the poison of separation with a little sweetness, the halva that comes counted towards union is yours, the affliction mine.

6. They say Leylâ has left the world, and I have no companion left; otherwise the world and all that is in it (mâ-fîhâ) are empty in my eyes.

7. (The first line is incomplete and corrupt in the edition; roughly: our traces are respected and will surely not be wiped out.) On Bîsütun the print of the hand is yours, in the desert the print of the foot (nakş-ı pâ) mine. (The reading and the meaning are ours.)

8. O Cûdî, we gained no fulfilment from love, but we gained a name; the mountain-piercer (you) is famous, but the madman who has become a proverb (mazrûbü'l-mesel) is I.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a ghazal (gazel) of eight couplets. It follows the remel pattern "fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün"; the identification of the metre is ours. The redif (refrain word) is "benim" (mine), and the rhyme is the sound "-â": Leylâ, sahrâ, peymâ, vâveylâ, belvâ, dünyâ and şeydâ end in it. The pen name (mahlas) "Cûdî" appears in the last couplet. The title of the ghazal is "Amasyada Ferhad Dağı, Mecnun dilinden olmak üzre" (The Ferhad Mountain in Amasya, as if from the mouth of Mecnun); that is, on seeing the Ferhad Mountain in Amasya the poet composed a poem addressed to Ferhad in the voice of Mecnun. Every couplet is built on the contrast between "yours" and "mine", and divides the sorrow of love of Ferhad and Mecnun like two equal shares.

The text is taken from the appendix of Havva Tok Yıldız's thesis. The thesis states that it took the appended poems from İbnülemin Mahmud Kemal İnal's Son Asır Türk Şâirleri, Vehbi Cem Aşkun's Merzifon Şâirleri and İsmail Hakkı Eldem's Muasır Şâirlerimiz, without touching the spelling of its sources; from which of these this poem was taken is not indicated separately. The transcription contains misread words. The phrase "madame kim şiyri" in the first couplet can be understood as "mâdem ki Şîrîn", "mehri muaccel" and "mehri müeccel" in the fourth couplet as "mehr-i muaccel" and "mehr-i müeccel", and "matrubilmesel" in the last couplet as "mazrûbü'l-mesel". In the seventh couplet the first line is incomplete and could not be read with confidence. The original text has been left in the form found in the source, and suggested readings are marked in the English section.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal brings face to face the two great lovers of the literatures of the East. Ferhad is the painter who pierces a mountain to win Şirin; Mecnun is the madman driven into the deserts by his love for Leylâ. The poet begins by saying that neither of them was united with his beloved, and divides the world between them: the mountain belongs to Ferhad, the desert to Mecnun. The second and third couplets continue this division; love makes one pierce a mountain and the other measure out the desert, the din on the mountain falls to Ferhad and the wailing in the desert to Mecnun. The fourth couplet is notable for a comparison drawn from Islamic family law. The part of the bride-price (mehr) given to the wife that is paid in advance is called "mehr-i muaccel", and the part deferred until death or divorce "mehr-i müeccel". The lovers have long since given their reason as the advance; now the turn has come for the deferred part, that is, life itself. The line asking to whom this share will fall points to the stories of both lovers, which end in death.

The play of sound between "helva" (halva) and "belva" (affliction) in the fifth couplet sets sweetness and bitterness side by side. "Bîsütun" in the seventh couplet is the name, in Persian literature, of the mountain Ferhad pierced. Hüsameddin writes that the Ferhad Mountain in Amasya is regarded as the western end of the Pontic mountains, that this range passes into Iran and joins the Bîsütun mountain, and that in some Arabic geography books all of them are called "Kûh-ı Bîsütûn". Cûdî's use of the name Bîsütun when speaking of the mountain in Amasya agrees with this belief. In the couplet the print of the hand Ferhad left on the mountain is compared with the footprint Mecnun left in the desert. In the last couplet the poet says that neither lover gained fulfilment from love, but both gained a name; the mountain-piercer is famous, but the madman who has become a proverb is Mecnun. That the pen name blends into Mecnun's words in this couplet suggests that the poet identifies himself with the madman of the desert.

Historical Context

When the poem was written is not known. Its title connects it to Amasya and the Ferhad Mountain. In the first volume of his Amasya Tarihi Hüsameddin writes that the steep rock south-west of Karakaya is called the "Ferhad Rock" and the ridge extending east from it the "Ferhad Mountain", and that among the people it is told that Ferhad, in love with Şirin, pierced this rock and brought water to the city. Hüsameddin does not believe this tale and says that the water channels are much older; but the names of the mountain and the rock have lived on in the city. Cûdî's ghazal is a response, in Mecnun's voice, from a poet of Merzifon to this legend of Amasya. For the forms of the legend in Amasya see the article Ferhat and Şirin, and for the poet's life see Muallim İbrâhim Cûdî of Merzifon.

Bibliography

Online sources