Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mütefāʿīlün feʿūlün mütefāʿīlün feʿūlün

Görinür ḳaçar perīler ne ġarīb ḥāldir bu
Bu zemīnde ṭurma ey dil perīli cibāldir bu
Leb-i ḫande var açıḳdır ḳapusı sarāy-ı sūrıñ
Ki sebāḳ-gāh-ı zīynet çemen-i cemāldir bu
Uçuyor ṭuyūr ḳāh ḳah yüziyor hevā-yı ḫoş-bū
Aḳıyor suyūl-i şādī ne ḫoş inşilāldir bu
Ne ḳadar raḳīḳ ü şeffāf naġamāt-ı şūḫ-ı deffāf
Ne perīler anda raḳṣāne ne heẕīẕ baldır bu
İdüp iḳtifā-yı def-zen oḳuyor zenān-ı kef-zen:
Ki servere ḥaḳḳımız var ẓafer-i ricāldir bu
Göñül olma pek hevāyī ḳuşu ḳuşla ṣayd iderler
O ḳuşuñ adı gelindir gidereḳ ʿıyāldir bu
Gelin ismini işitse ḳadın artıḳ evde ṭurmaz
Gelin emre ḥāżır olmuş çaġırır ḫayāldir bu
Şu nebāt-ı nāhīde küçücük şükūfelerdir
Gül ocaġınıñ içinde beliren nihāldir bu
Daha şimdiden tezeyyün idiyor bu ḳızcaġızlar
İlerüde bedr-i ḳāmil olacaḳ hilāldir bu
Cereyān defiʿ ü ceẕbi ne latīf şekle ḳoymuş
Ki şükūh-ı kibriyā salṭanat-ı celāldir bu

In English

1. Fairies appear and flee; what a strange state this is! O heart, do not stay in this place; this is a haunted mountain.

2. There is a laughing lip, the door of the wedding palace stands open; for this is the meadow of beauty, the course of a race in finery.

3. Birds fly about, laughter rings out, the fragrant air drifts; floods of joy flow; what a lovely cascade this is.

4. How fine and clear are the notes of the playful tambourine player; what fairies dance there, what delicious honey this is.

5. Following the tambourine player, the clapping women sing: "We have a right to rejoice; this is a victory over the men."

6. O heart, do not be too flighty; a bird is caught with a bird; that bird's name is "bride", and in the end this means a family to keep.

7. Once a woman hears the word "bride" she will no longer stay at home; she thinks a bride stands ready and calls her, but this is a fancy.

8. These newly sprouted plants are tiny flowers; this is a sapling appearing in the bed of a rose bush.

9. These little girls are already adorning themselves; this is a crescent that will one day be a full moon.

10. How graceful a form has been given to the flow of repulsion and attraction (in the universe); this is the majesty of the Almighty, the sovereignty of His glory.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The women's side of a wedding house, a subject seldom met in divan poetry, supplies all the material of the ghazal "Düğün Evi" (The Wedding House). Girls who appear and flee like fairies, the open door of the wedding palace, birdsong and laughter, fragrant air and floods of joy fill the first couplets. In the fourth and fifth couplets the sound of the wedding is heard: a playful tambourine player strikes fine, clear notes, and the clapping women sing after him. The words given in the women's mouths, "We have a right to rejoice; this is a victory over the men", are close to the teasing language of wedding songs and carry a voice from everyday life into the poem.

The second half of the ghazal shows the poet's lightly ironic view of the scene. The sixth couplet warns the heart: a bird is caught with a bird, that bird's name is "bride", and in the end it becomes "ıyâl", a family to be kept. According to the seventh couplet, women cannot stay at home once they hear the word "bride". The eighth and ninth couplets liken the little girls dressed up at the wedding to saplings newly appearing in a rose bed and to crescents that will one day be full moons; there is more tenderness than mockery in these comparisons.

The last couplet ties the everyday scene to a cosmic order. The attraction that brings together woman and man, the family and the generations, is a graceful form of the flow of "def' ü cezb", repulsion and attraction, in the universe, and a manifestation of the sovereign glory of the Almighty. The view, seen in other poems of the divan too, that counts the union of woman and man part of the divine order settles here into a wedding scene.

Bibliography

  • Havva Tok Yıldız, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [1b-43a], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 79-80 (poem no. 56; manuscript fol. 26b). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116853.pdf

Online sources