Original Ottoman Turkish Text

İlahi taatim yok dilde istiğfardan gayrı
Ne taat kim, değil isyanımı ikrardan gayrı
Tehi-destim huzura layık-ı takdim nem vardır
Nedamet gözyaşından, ah-ı ateşbardan gayrı
Ümidim habil havfın dest-i lerzanıyle mümteddir
Gınaya fakr uzanmak dest-i raişerdardan gayrı
Zununum rehber oldukça hatadır attığım hatve
Yolunda çare yok tevfik-i istiğfardan gayrı
Günahın itiraf eylerse kul mevlası affeyler
Bana mevla mı var ya rabbi sen gaffardan gayrı
Meta-ı müstearın aldı devran duş-ı cudi'den
Hamulem yok vebalimden ibaret bardan gayrı

In English

1. My God, I have no worship on my tongue but asking forgiveness; what worship, I have nothing but the confession of my rebellion.

2. I am empty-handed; what have I worthy to offer in Your presence, other than tears of regret and fire-scattering sighs?

3. My hope reaches out with the trembling hand of the rope of fear; poverty reaching out to wealth is nothing but a trembling hand.

4. As long as my suppositions are my guide, every step I take is error; on Your road there is no remedy but the grace of asking forgiveness.

5. If a servant confesses his sin, his master forgives him; O Lord, have I any master but You, the Forgiving?

6. Time has taken the borrowed goods from Cûdî's shoulder; I have no load but the burden that is my sin.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Left outside the divan, the münacat "İstiğfar-nâme", the book of asking forgiveness, makes a count with the refrain "-dan gayrı", other than: the poet has no worship other than asking forgiveness, no gift to offer other than tears of regret, no remedy other than the grace of forgiveness, no master other than God the Forgiving. This repetition tells of the servant laying down one by one all that is in his hand and taking refuge only in the hope of forgiveness.

The third couplet shows hope and fear together: hope reaches out with the trembling hand of fear; the poor man reaches to the rich with a trembling hand. The fifth couplet starts from an everyday relation between servant and master: if the servant confesses his fault, his master forgives him; and the poet has no master but the Forgiving. The last couplet likens life to borrowed goods: time has taken that trust from the poet's shoulder, and only the load of sins remains. Carrying the same voice as the münacats of the divan, this poem shows the plainness of Cûdî's language of prayer.

Bibliography

  • Havva Tok Yıldız, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [1b-43a], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 180, 182 (Appendix, poem no. 3). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116853.pdf

Online sources