Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefāʿīlün mefāʿīlün mefāʿīlün mefāʿīlün

Erenler meclisinde bir nefes de benden al haydi
ʿAden deryāsına yol düşdi lāzımdır güher ṣaydı
Ṣafā-yı ḫāṭırı tekdīr ider aġyārıñ eṭvārı
Bütün aġyārı yār eylerdim elde ḳudret olsaydı
Emeller ṣımṣıḳı ṣarmış ḥayātı cisme yükletmiş
Sen anıñ ḫiffeten farḳ itmek isterseñ çıḳar ḳaydı
Ḥayātıñ muʿtedildir neşʾesi erbāb-ı tecrīde
Ḫumār-ı şehveti sildiñse başdan gözleriñ aydı
Bahār eyyāmı ṣaḥrāya ṣapar baḥra aḳan çaylar
Meger anlar da elvānı görüp yol gitmeden çaydı
Bu rütbe vüsʿatiyle ṭarlaşır güneş-i kevn-dünyā
Gelenler çünki ḥaddinden büyük bir de kilīm yaydı
Meger buz baġlamış kūh-ı bülend-i ʿilm-i ervāḥı
Cihāna düşdüm ey Cūdī o ʿālemden ayaḳ ḳaydı

In English

1. In the gathering of the saints take a breath from me too, come; the road has led to the sea of Aden; one must hunt for pearls.

2. The ways of strangers cloud the serenity of the heart; had I the power I would make all strangers friends.

3. Hopes have wrapped it tight and loaded life onto the body; if you wish to feel its lightness, remove the bond.

4. For the people of detachment the joy of life is measured; if you have wiped the languor of lust from your head, good news to your eyes.

5. In the days of spring the streams that flow to the sea stray into the plain; it seems they too, seeing the colours, gave up before setting out.

6. With such breadth the sun of the world of being grows cramped, for those who came spread a rug larger than their bounds (the couplet is not entirely clear).

7. It seems the lofty mountain of the knowledge of spirits had iced over; Cûdî, my foot slipped from that world and I fell into this one.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The opening couplet addresses the "nefes", hymn, tradition of a dervish gathering: in the gathering of the saints the poet too wishes to recite a nefes, and says that the road has led to the sea of Aden, that is, to the place where pearls are hunted. The following couplets list a series of moral observations: the ways of strangers cloud the serenity of the heart; hopes make life a burden on the body, and when this bond is loosened the lightness of life is felt; for the people of detachment, those who have withdrawn from the world, the joy of life is measured.

The fifth couplet carries the ghazal's most graceful play of sound: the streams that should flow to the sea stray into the plain in spring; the word "çay", stream, also recalls the past tense of the verb "caymak", to give up: the streams too, seeing the colours of spring, gave up before setting out. The closing couplet tells the divan's thoughts on the origin of the soul through an image of slipping: the lofty mountain of the world of spirits had iced over, the poet's foot slipped and he fell into the world. Man's coming into this world is a fall, and an accident besides; this lightly humorous tone softens a weighty thought.

Bibliography

  • Zeynep Adıyahşi, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [43b-87b], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, p. 125 (poem no. 281; manuscript fol. 82b). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116831.pdf

Online sources