Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Müfteʿilün fāʿilün müfteʿilün fāʿilün

Cenk ü cedel ekŝerī ḥubb-ı diremden gelir
Ḥubb-ı direm şehvete ḥāṣr-ı himemden gelir
Şehvete ḥāṣr-ı himem nefy-i beḳādan çıḳar
Nefy-i beḳā rūḥda gizli vü remden gelir
Dirheme muḥtācdır tesviye-i iḥtiyāc
Ḥācet ü muḥtāc hep dehre ʿademden gelir
Zer diseler terk ider her medenī meymeni
Sīm ile sersemleniş ḫalḳa ne semden gelir
Sīm ü zeriñ maʿdeni her kimi eyler denī
Ḳazma, kürek dūşda defn-i keremden gelir
Nān ü nemek uġrına çekdigimiz her emek
Dürlü ḳarın aġrısı derd-i şikemden gelir
Ṣuṣdı selāmlıḳdaki sāzlar āvāzlar
ʿŪd u kemān naġmesi şimdi ḥaremden gelir
Hiç ḳaleme gelmeyen ḫaylice dīvāneler
Aldatır ev ḫalḳını sözde ḳalemden gelir
Nūr görür ẓulmeti, āteşi ẓan eyler āb
Ser-ḫoşuñ eñ müflisi maḥbes-i cemden gelir
Ṭoldı tehī-maġzlar dürlü ḫurāfāt ile
Tekyeye ḫālī gibi post-ı ʿAcemden gelir
Ṣıdḳına olsa emīn hiç ider mi yemīn
Ekŝeri keẕẕāb olan semt-i ḳasemden gelir
Silsile-i ḥādiŝāt eyleyemez inḳıṭaʿ
Cūdī bu emvāc hep baḥr-ı ḳıdemden gelir

In English

1. War and quarrel mostly come from the love of money; the love of money comes from confining one's resolve to lust.

2. Confining resolve to lust springs from denying permanence (the hereafter); denying permanence comes from a hidden shyness in the spirit (the line is not entirely clear).

3. Meeting a need requires money; need and the needy all come into the world from non-being.

4. If they say "gold", every civilized man abandons good fortune (the line is not entirely clear); from what poison comes people's dizziness over silver!

5. The mine of silver and gold makes everyone base; the pick and shovel on the shoulder come from burying generosity.

6. Every labour we suffer for bread and salt, every kind of bellyache, comes from the trouble of the belly.

7. The instruments and voices in the men's quarters have fallen silent; the melody of lute and violin now comes from the harem.

8. Many a madman who never came near a pen deceives the household by claiming he comes from the office.

9. Light sees darkness, it takes fire for water; the most bankrupt of drunkards comes from the prison of Cem's cup.

10. Empty heads are filled with all kinds of superstitions; to the lodge, like a carpet, comes the Persian sheepskin.

11. Would one sure of his own truthfulness ever swear an oath? Most liars come from the side of oaths.

12. The chain of events cannot be cut; Cûdî, these waves all come from the sea of pre-eternity.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The refrain "-emden gelir", comes from, names a cause in every couplet, and through this chain the ghazal lists the divan's observations on morals and society as short judgements. The first two couplets build a real chain: war comes from the love of money, the love of money from confining one's resolve to lust, and this from denying the hereafter. So the root of the world's quarrels is tied to a question of belief. Between the third and fifth couplets there are plays on words about money: "sîm", silver, with "sersem", dizzy, and "sem", poison; "maden", mine, with "denî", base.

In the middle of the ghazal stand two short scenes taken from the city life of the period. In the seventh couplet the instruments in the men's quarters have fallen silent, and lute and violin are now heard from the harem; this is an observation on music passing to the women's part of the house, or on the change of domestic life. In the eighth couplet "coming from the kalem", that is, serving as a clerk in a government office, is a matter of sham: many a madman who never held a pen deceives the household by saying he comes from the office. The tenth couplet ties the spreading of "Persian sheepskins" in the lodges to the spread of superstitions; the eleventh repeats a known observation that frequent swearing is a sign of lying. The closing couplet carries the whole chain to a cosmic scale: the chain of events cannot be cut, for all the waves come from the sea of pre-eternity.

Bibliography

  • Zeynep Adıyahşi, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [43b-87b], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 108-109 (poem no. 256; manuscript fol. 77a). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116831.pdf

Online sources