Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Feʿilātün feʿilātün feʿilün

Var idi bir küçücük ṭıfl-ı edīb
Ṭıfl iken terbiyeden aldı naṣīb
İyi bir ḫanım idi vālidesi
Görünürdi söziniñ fāʾidesi
Eylemezdi gözi nūrın tekdīr
Çocuġuñ fikrin iderdi tenvīr
Mübtediydi o ciger-pāre henūz
Başlamışdı leb-i güftāre henūz
Görmemişdi nicedir āyīne
ʿAkseden sāde o ṣāfī-i sīne
Peder emr itdi uşaġı ʿÖmere
Sil şu āyīneyi indir de yire
ʿÖmer āyīneyi sildi iyice
Didi ṭursun da açılsun bu gice
Çocuk oynardı ṣalonda tenhā
Gördi āyīneyi oldu şeydā
Var içinde aña benzer birisi
Kendiniñki gibidir ʿentarīsi
Bu aña baḳdı o da baḳdı buña
Güldi bu, oldı o da ḫande-nümā
Bu geri çıḳdı o da gitdi geri
Bu yanaşdı o da geldi ileri
Elini ḳaldıracaḳ oldı çocuḳ
O da gösterdi buña bir yumruḳ
Ḥiddetinden bilemezdi niyetün
İstedi tepme urup da gitsün
Anası ḥāline olmuş nigerān
Didi: Yavrum ṭoraman itme ziyān
Aña ḥiddetle görünme öyle
Ḳollarıñ açda yürü bir şöyle
Yumuşaḳ söyle güler yüz göster
Sen severseñ o da sevmek ister
Oġlum āyīneye beñzer dünyā
Ne yaparsañ o olur çehre-nümā

In English

1. There was a tiny, well-mannered child; while still small he had had his share of good upbringing.

2. His mother was a good lady; the benefit of her words could be seen.

3. She did not scold the light of her eyes; she enlightened the child's mind.

4. That darling of hers was only just beginning; he had only just begun to speak.

5. The pure-hearted child had not seen for a long time a mirror that reflects things as they are.

6. The father ordered the servant Ömer: "Wipe this mirror and set it down on the floor."

7. Ömer wiped the mirror thoroughly and said, "Let it stand and air tonight."

8. The child was playing alone in the hall; he saw the mirror and stood amazed.

9. Inside it there is someone who looks like him; his robe is just like his own.

10. This one looked at that one, that one looked at this; this one laughed, that one smiled too.

11. This one drew back, that one went back too; this one came near, that one came forward too.

12. The child was about to raise his hand; the other showed him a fist.

13. In his anger he could not tell the other's intention; he wanted to give him a kick and be done with him.

14. His mother had been watching how he was; she said: "My child, my sturdy one, do no harm.

15. Do not show yourself to him so angrily; open your arms and walk up to him like this.

16. Speak softly, show a smiling face; if you love, he too wants to love.

17. My son, the world is like a mirror; whatever you do, that is the face it shows you."

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Mirror Lesson for Children

The hand of a teacher-poet shows at once in this seventeen-couplet mesnevi, one of the divan's poems for children. The language is simple, the plot short and lively, and the characters are set out like a family portrait: a well-mannered little child, a good mother who does not scold him but enlightens his mind, a father giving orders to the servant, and the servant Ömer who wipes the mirror. The naming of the servant and words like "salon" (hall) and "entari" (robe) give the poem the air of an Istanbul home at the end of the nineteenth century.

The core of the story is the child's first encounter with the mirror. The child takes the child in the mirror for someone else; as he looks the other looks, as he laughs the other laughs, as he draws back the other draws back. The tenth and eleventh couplets tell this mutual movement in lines of equal length that repeat each other, bringing the scene to life almost as a game. When the child raises his hand the other shows a fist, and the child gets ready to kick.

The last four couplets, in which the mother steps in, give the story's lesson: the mirror looks back angrily at one who looks at it in anger, and one who opens his arms, speaks softly and shows a smiling face is met with love. The last line turns this into wisdom for life: "Oġlum āyīneye beñzer dünyā", my son, the world is like a mirror. In the divan's ghazal "Âyîne Karşısında" the mirror was the means of knowing oneself and the secret of being; here the same image is used to teach a child how to behave.

Bibliography

  • Havva Tok Yıldız, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [1b-43a], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 70-71 (poem no. 52; manuscript fol. 23a-23b). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116853.pdf

Online sources