Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Ne teaviz eser eyler, ne garaim, ne havas
Cinneti aşka meğer cenneti vuslata halas.
Gurbu cananda azap olduğun anladı hasis
Gördü budunda selamet aradı çölde menas.
Acı sözle içimi yareledi yar benim
Dudağın dişleyeyim cerhiledir cere kısas.
Zikri helvayı lebin düştü avam ağzına dek
Tablakarın geçinür hayli mürai eşhas.
İltifatından uzak tutma bu CUDİ kulun
Olayım sıdkile, ihlas ile bir bendei has.

In English

1. Neither amulets have effect, nor charms, nor secret properties; release from the madness of love, it seems, is the paradise of union.

2. The base man understood that nearness to the beloved is torment; he saw safety in distance and sought refuge in the desert (the couplet is not entirely clear).

3. My beloved has wounded my insides with bitter words; let me bite her lip, for the retaliation for a wound is a wound.

4. The talk of the halva of her lip has reached the mouths of the common people; many a hypocrite passes himself off as its tray-bearer.

5. Do not keep this servant Cûdî far from your favour; let me be your very own servant in faithfulness and sincerity.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Seeking a remedy for the pain of love, the lover lists and rejects the remedies of folk belief in the first couplet: neither amulet nor charm nor the secret properties of stones and plants cure the madness of love; the only release is the paradise of union. The third couplet is a playful judgement taken from the language of law: the beloved has wounded the lover's insides with her bitter word; according to the Qur'anic ruling "for wounds there is retaliation" (al-Mâ'ida 5:45), the lover in turn wants to take retaliation by biting her lip.

The fourth couplet continues the image of "halva": the sweetness of the beloved's lip has fallen into the mouths of the people, and many a hypocrite passes himself off as the go-between of this sweetness, like a seller carrying the tray of halva. The closing couplet ends with the humility of a servant asking for favour. The ghazal is an example, outside the divan, of Cûdî's manner of joking with the language of love through everyday and legal terms.

Bibliography

  • Havva Tok Yıldız, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [1b-43a], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 180, 188 (Appendix, poem no. 11). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116853.pdf

Online sources