Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Feʿilātün feʿilātün feʿilün
Oldı ārāyiş-i āġūş-ı zamān
Bir yeşil cāmeli ḥoş-bū reyḥān
O ḳadar nāzik idi hem nāzān
Gülbiñ ḳonsa olurdı lerzān
O sene gitdi havā pekce ḳuraḳ
Ortalıḳ ḳızdı ṣıḳışdı ṭopraḳ
Ṭıfl iken neşv ü nemādan ḳaldı
Kendini şöyle zemīne ṣaldı
Düşünürdi gice meʾyūsāne
Gündüz aġlar idi yane yane
Gice şebnemden idüp istimdād
Gündüz eylerdi seḥābe feryād
Dirdi: Ey ebr-i bahār itme güẕār
Aman ey murżıʿa-i şefḳat-gār
Beni emzir ki helāk oldum ben
Ṣu yetişdir ṣu ki ḫāk oldum ben
İtdi feryādı semāya teʾŝīr
Mevcelendi ḳoca deryāyı eŝīr
Gürleyüp yaġdı semā ḳandı zemīn
Silinüp tozları yıḳandı zemīn
Gerçi her şeyʾe leṭāfet geldi
Bu seferde diger āfet geldi
Neşʾesinden ḳabarup cümle nebāt
Aldı meydānı hevāmm u ḥaşerāt
Ṣardı eṭrafı ıṣırġan ālāyı
Kim temās itse baṣardı ḳalayı
O yabanīler içinde mecūs
Ḳaldı bī-çāre ġarīb ü meʾyūs
Didi: Ey Rabb-i raḥīm-i mennān
Lütfuña, ḳahrıña yoḳdur pāyān
İstedim raḥmetiñ iḥsān itdiñ
Beni de ġayrı da şādān itdiñ
İtdiñ iḥyā o mużır cānları da
Ḳıldıñ iḥyā şu ıṣırġanları da
Aña vaḥy eyledi ḥaḳḳ ʿazze ve cel
Didi: Lā usʾelu ʿamme efʿal
Saña maḫṣūṣ u müsellem mi cihān
Ki olsa keyfiñe tābiʿ cereyān
Raḥmetim her cihete vāsiʿdir
Ṣuṣ ki ḳahrım daḫi pek nāfiʿdir
In English
1. There was a sweet-smelling basil in a green robe that adorned the lap of time.
2. It was so delicate and so coy that it trembled if (anything) settled on it. (The word opening the line could not be read with certainty.)
3. That year the weather was very dry; the land grew hot, the soil packed hard.
4. While still a seedling it stopped growing and thriving; it let itself droop to the ground.
5. By night it brooded in despair, by day it wept with a burning heart.
6. By night it begged help from the dew, by day it cried out to the cloud.
7. It said: "O cloud of spring, do not pass by; mercy, O tender wet-nurse!
8. Suckle me, for I am perishing; bring water, water, for I have turned to dust."
9. Its cry moved the sky; the great sea was stirred and surged.
10. The sky thundered and rained, the earth drank its fill; its dust wiped away, the ground was washed.
11. Freshness came to everything, it is true; but this time another calamity came.
12. All the plants swelled with joy; vermin and insects took over the field.
13. A troop of nettles surrounded it; whoever touched them was stung and itched.
14. Imprisoned among those wild things, the poor (basil) was left forlorn and hopeless.
15. It said: "O merciful Lord who bestows blessings! There is no end to your kindness or to your wrath.
16. I asked for your mercy and you granted it; you made both me and others glad.
17. You revived those harmful creatures too; you brought these nettles to life as well."
18. God, mighty and glorious, revealed to it and said: "I am not questioned about what I do.
19. Is the world yours alone, handed over to you, that things should flow as you please?
20. My mercy is wide in every direction; hush, my wrath too is of great use."
Literary and Historical Commentary
The Basil's Prayer
"Reyhân u Isırgan" (The Basil and the Nettle) is a plant fable in two parts. The first part tells of drought: a delicate, fragrant basil cannot grow in a dry year, droops to the ground, and begs help by night from the dew and by day from the cloud. In the seventh and eighth couplets the cloud is likened to a wet-nurse, and the basil's plea is spoken in a child's voice: "suckle me, bring water, water". The prayer is granted; the sky thunders and rains, the soil drinks its fill, the earth is washed.
The second part turns the story in an unexpected direction. The rain has revived not only the basil but all the plants; insects and vermin take over the field, and a troop of nettles surrounds the basil. This time the basil reproaches God: I asked for mercy, but you revived those harmful creatures too. The answer comes in a divine address and recalls the Qur'anic verse "He is not questioned about what He does" (al-Anbiyâ' 21:23). The world does not belong to the basil alone, things do not flow as it pleases; divine mercy is wide in every direction, and wrath too has its use.
The lesson of the fable is that one should not resent the good one asks for oneself reaching others too; the wish of one who prays is not to bring the order of the universe down to his own measure. The short metre, the rhymed couplets and the sound repetitions close to a child's speech ("ṣu yetişdir ṣu") place this poem too among the divan's didactic verses that also speak to children.
Bibliography
- Havva Tok Yıldız, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [1b-43a], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 71-73 (poem no. 53; manuscript fol. 23b-24a). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116853.pdf
Online sources
