Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefāʿilün feʿilātün mefāʿilün feʿilün

Ter-i nemā teñi bülbül gibi o gül diñler
Nevā-yı ʿaşḳı göñül, kimde var göñül diñler
Bu bir edā ki olur tercemān-ı şevḳ-i elest
Bütün meḥāfil-i ṭāʿāt u bezm-i mül diñler
Sürūş-ı mest olur āhenk-i müsteṭābımdan
Sünūḥ-ı rūḥumı göklerde ʿaḳl-ı kül diñler
Eẕān-ı vaḥdet-i erbāb-ı iḫtilāf oḳurum
Ḳoyup mücādeleyi muḫtelif sübül diñler
Sürūd-ı ʿismet-i ʿaşḳıñ ne ṭatlıdır Cūdī
Ṣabī vü pīr ü civān, merʾe vü recül diñler

In English

1. That rose listens, like the nightingale, to the song of growth (the line is not entirely clear); the heart listens to the melody of love; whoever has a heart listens.

2. This is a tone that becomes the interpreter of the longing of "Am I not" (the pre-eternal covenant); all gatherings of worship and parties of wine listen.

3. The angel grows drunk on my pleasing harmony; in the heavens the Universal Intellect listens to the inspirations of my spirit.

4. I recite the call to prayer of unity to the people of disagreement; the different paths leave off disputing and listen.

5. How sweet is the song of love's chastity, Cûdî; child and old man and youth, woman and man listen.

Literary and Historical Commentary

This ghazal on the power of poetry and sound follows the previous one in the divan under the heading "Bu da", this one too. The refrain "diñler", listens, brings a listening subject onto the stage in every couplet: the rose, the heart, gatherings of worship and of wine, the angels, the Universal Intellect, the different paths and at last people of every age and sex. The word "Elest" in the second couplet alludes to the pre-eternal covenant in the sura al-A'râf in which the souls are asked "Am I not your Lord?" (7:172); the poet's verse is an interpreter voicing the longing of that first covenant.

The fourth couplet is the most meaningful place in the ghazal: the poet recites a "call to prayer of unity" to those fallen into disagreement, and the different paths leave off disputing and listen to it. Beside the divan's pessimistic poems on the conflicts between religions and sects, this couplet carries a hope: if a common voice is found, division falls silent. The expression "the song of love's chastity" in the closing couplet shows that the poet sees his love poetry as a clean language of love; that is why child and old man, woman and man can listen to it together.

Bibliography

  • Zeynep Adıyahşi, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [43b-87b], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 83-84 (poem no. 233; manuscript fol. 68a-68b). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116831.pdf

Online sources