Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Mefāʿilün feʿilātün mefāʿilün feʿilün
Nigūn-nümūnī-i ekvāb meşrebimce degil
Ser-i şebāne-i aṣḥāb meşrebimce degil
Hezār-ı bī-dil-i itʿāb meşrebimce degil
Ṣubūḥ vaḳti şeker-ḫᵛāb meşrebimce degil
Piyāle-i nūş-i aḥbāb meşrebimce degil
Şafaḳ-nümūn olalı kāseye şarāb-ı ṭahūr
Ḳadeḥdir ʿaks-i ruḫ-i yāre cilve-gāh-ı ẓuhūr
Fürūġ-ı meydir iden defʿ-i ẓulmet-i deycūr
Leb-i piyāledir erbāb-ı ʿaşḳa maṭlaʿ-ı nūr
Şarābsız şeb-i mehtāb meşrebimce degil
Göñül muḳayyed-i ser-tār-ı gīsū anıñdır
Ḫayāl-i müctehid-i nükte-i dehānıñdır
Revān-ı muʿteḳif-i ḫāk-i āsitanıñdır
Diliñ naẓar-gehī peyveste ebrūvānıñdır
Cihet-perestiʾ-i mihrāb meşrebimce degil
Egerçi şimdi benim ṣāḥib-i yed-i beyżā
Elimde ḫāme-i iʿcāz-ı “ḥayyetü’t-tesʿā”
Ṣorarsa yār faḳaṭ eylemem dehā ıṭrā
Kelīm-i kāmil-i hārfen ṭalāḳatim ammā
Ḥużūr-ı yārda iṭnāb meşrebimce degil
Ḫaṣīṣadır saña ey köhne rind tāze vürūd
Bu cāmiyāne terennüm bu ḥāfiẓāne sürūd
Nola seniñle gülistān eylesiñ pedrūd
Gül-i dü rengi çemen-zār-ı ʿālemiñ mesʿūd
Ne rütbe olsa da sīr-āb meşrebimce degil
In English
1. The sight of cups turned upside down is not to my taste; the friends (parting) at the night's beginning is not to my taste; a thousand heartless rebukes are not to my taste; sugar-sweet sleep at the hour of the morning wine is not to my taste; the friends' drinking from the cup (without me) is not to my taste. (Some lines of the stanza are not entirely clear.)
2. Since the pure wine (şarâb-ı tahûr) took on the colour of dawn in the bowl, the cup is the place where the reflection of the beloved's cheek appears. The gleam of wine dispels the darkness of the pitch-black night; the lip of the cup is the rising-place of light for the people of love. A moonlit night without wine is not to my taste.
3. The heart is bound to the tip of one strand of her hair; imagination is a mujtahid seeking to solve the subtlety of her mouth. The soul has gone into retreat in the dust of her threshold; the heart's gaze is ever upon her eyebrows. Worshipping a direction, turning to the mihrab, is not to my taste.
4. It is true that I now own the miracle of the "white hand" (yed-i beyzâ); in my hand is the pen of the miracle of the "running serpent". But if the beloved asks, I do not show off my cleverness and exaggerate; I am a perfect Kelîm (Moses) in fluency, but in the beloved's presence long-windedness is not to my taste.
5. O old rind newly arrived, these Câmî-like songs, these Hâfız-like airs are yours alone. What if, together with you, it bade farewell to the rose garden; the two-coloured rose of the meadow of the world is fortunate; however well watered it may be, (that state) is not to my taste. (The last lines of the stanza are not entirely clear.)
Literary and Historical Commentary
The Rind's Temper
The refrain "meşrebimce degil" (not to my taste) records at the end of every stanza of this muhammes what a rind does not like. The rind in divan poetry is the man of the tavern and of love, who defends the freedom of the heart against the dry piety of the ascetic. Cûdî's rind dislikes empty cups turned upside down, friends parting early, sweet sleep at the hour of the morning wine and a moonlit night without wine. Beside the first stanza the copyist noted Hâfiz's Persian-Arabic couplet in which the nightingale calls the drunkards at the gathering of rose and wine to the morning cup; the mood of the muhammes is the mood of that couplet of Hâfiz.
The third stanza carries the boldest expression of the rind's stance. The poet's heart is bound to a strand of the beloved's hair, his imagination is a mujtahid trying to solve the subtlety of her mouth, his soul has gone into retreat at her threshold; and the heart's qibla is the beloved's eyebrows. The likeness in shape between eyebrow and mihrab is among the oldest images of divan poetry; the refrain sharpens it by saying "worshipping a direction is not to my taste".
The fourth stanza plays with the story of Moses. The poet says that in his hand is a pen carrying the miracle of "yed-i beyzâ", the shining hand of Moses, and of "hayyetün tes'â", the staff that turned into a running serpent; but, with a reversal on Moses, known to have been slow of speech, he adds that he is a perfect Kelîm in fluency, yet does not speak at length in the beloved's presence. The last stanza names two great masters of Persian poetry with "Câmîyâne terennüm" and "Hâfızâne sürûd" and ties the muhammes to that lineage.
Bibliography
- Havva Tok Yıldız, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [1b-43a], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, p. 56 (poem no. 44; manuscript fol. 17b). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116853.pdf
Online sources
