Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Mefāʿīlün mefāʿīlün mefāʿīlün mefāʿīlün
Elinde kehkeşān tesbīḥ encüm nūr-ı ẕikrullāh
Nice manẓūme-i şemsiyye aġzında ufaḳ bir āh
Yürür mi ya ṭurur mı kendi de andan degil āgāh
Ne maʿrūf-ı muvāfaḳdır ne de bir ʿārif-i dil-ḫᵛāh
Hemān müstaġraḳ u mebhūt u ṣāmit nātıḳ u evvāh
Nedir bu heyʾet-i ʿālem amān Allāh amān Allāh
Hezārān şekle girmiş çıḳmış ābād u ḫarāb olmuş
Hevā olmuş, ṣu olmuş, āteş ü seng ü türāb olmuş
Cenīn ü ṭıfl olup ṭoġmış yaşamış şeyḫ ü şāb olmuş
Nebāt olmuş, nücūm olmuş, seḥāb olmuş ḥabāb olmuş
Neler olmuş neler olmuş vü olmaḳda hemān her-gāh
Nedir bu heyʾet-i ʿālem amān Allāh amān Allāh
İşinden ḳalmaz ārām eylemez şām u seḥer görmez
Ḳıyāmet ḳopsa bir şey ġāʾib itmez hiç żarar görmez
O rütbe ʿumḳa mālikdir ki ʿaḳl irmez baṣar görmez
Muḥīṭin ḥaḳḳ görür cinn ü melek görmez beşer görmez
Degil māhiyet-i ekvāna ḥaḳdan başḳası āgāh
Nedir bu heyʾet-i ʿālem amān Allāh amān Allāh
Teṣādüf göredir böyle niẓām-ı muntaẓām bilmez
Teṣādüf nūr olup rūy-ı ʿademden ẓulmeti silmez
ʿAvālim ġarḳ-ı āhınıñ ṭürābıdır da işidilmez
Ezel sermāyedir bir dize andan artmaz eksilmez
Ne seyr ü vuẓuʾ rūḥ efzā ne devr ü cünbiş can-gāh
Nedir bu heyʾet-i ʿālem amān Allāh amān Allāh
Uyur biñlerce encüm ḫᵛab-gāh-ı zīr-i bāliñde
Söner milyonca āʿṣār u ḳurūn ṭayf-ı ẓülālinde
Döner serkeşte vü ḥayrān cihāna pīş celālinde
Ḳıyāmetler ḳopar āsūde merʾī kendi ḥālinde
Müsāvī vezn-i mevcūdiyetinde gūh ile bir gāh
Nedir bu heyʾet-i ʿālem amān Allāh amān Allāh
Düşer biñ ẓıll-ı fāniyyet liḳā-yı hevl-i pūşinden
Faḳaṭ düşmez ridā-yı sermediyyet fevḳ-i düşinden
Gelir eşʿār-ı nevāyinde āhıñın ḫāmūşundan
Meʿāni mevc urur ḳalbinde rūh-ı pür-ḫurūşundan
O maʾnālar ṭoġar tevāʾim olur şād-ı şīven-gāh
Nedir bu heyʾet-i ʿālem amān Allāh amān Allāh
Kübūd-ı sermedī kim lücce-i herdem şināhımdır
Geçen āʿṣār hep emvāc-ı naḳş-ı pā-yı rāhımdır
Bu māvī ḳubbede medfūn olan nūr-ı nigāhımdır
Yanar ḳandīl-i encüm şeb-çerāġ-ı türbegāhımdır
Ḫudāya müntehī bir bī-tenāhī lā-mekān şeh-rāh
Nedir bu heyʾet-i ʿālem amān Allāh amān Allāh
Şuʿāʿāt-ı kevākib hep lisān-ı nūr-ı ḥiddetdir
Uzanmış ḥaḳḳı tevḥīd eyler engüşt-i şehādetdir
Yā çeşmān-ı melāʾikdir ki her dem vaḳf-ı ḥayretdir
Bu ḫayteʾn-nūr-ı istifhām içün mümted işāretdir
Zemīn dir: “Lā-ilāh” āsmāniler söyler: “İllāʾllāh”
Nedir bu heyʾet-i ʿālem amān Allāh amān Allāh
Melāʾik ins ü cinnüñ naġme-i şevḳ u münācātı
Bütün zī-rūḥ u bī-rūḥıñ ṣadā-yı ʿarż-ı ḥācātı
Żiyānıñ inkisārı bād u ābıñ iʿvicācātı
Nebātıñ ihtizāzı neyyirātıñ iḫtilācātı
Be-hem-āheng olup eyler ṭavāf-ı aḳdes-i dergāh
Nedir bu heyʾet-i ʿālem amān Allāh amān Allāh
Leb-i maʿṣūmın öptükce nücūmıñ naẓra-i ḥayret
Küçük bir ṭıflıñ işmīʾzāzı virdikce dile riḳḳat
Çıkup mechūl menbaʾlardan ʿaşḳ u ḥüsn yek sūret
Bu bezm-i ülfete baḫş eyledikçe feyż-i cemʿiyyet
Benim rūḥum yaşar żımnında bulmuşdur beḳā-billāh
Nedir bu heyʾet-i ʿālem amān Allāh amān Allāh
In English
1. In its hand the Milky Way is a rosary, the stars the light of God's remembrance; many a solar system is a little sigh in its mouth. Does it move or stand still? It does not know this itself. It is neither a known thing in harmony nor a knower after the heart's desire; it is only absorbed, bewildered, silent, speaking and sighing "alas". What is this frame of the universe, mercy, O God, mercy, O God.
2. It has entered and left thousands of shapes, been built and ruined; it has become air, become water, fire and stone and earth; it has been foetus and infant, been born, lived, grown old and young; it has become plant, become star, become cloud, become bubble. What has it not become, and it goes on becoming at every moment. What is this frame of the universe, mercy, O God, mercy, O God.
3. It never pauses in its work or rests, sees neither evening nor dawn; were the Last Day to come it would lose nothing and suffer no harm. It has such depth that the mind cannot reach it nor the eye see it; God sees what surrounds it, jinn and angel do not see it, man does not see it. None but God knows the essence of beings. What is this frame of the universe, mercy, O God, mercy, O God.
4. Chance (is blind and) knows no such ordered system; chance cannot become light and wipe the darkness from the face of nonbeing. The worlds are dust drowned in its sigh, and are not heard (the line is not entirely clear). Eternity is a capital; not a speck is added to it or taken from it. Neither its going and standing quicken the soul, nor its turning and stirring give life. What is this frame of the universe, mercy, O God, mercy, O God.
5. Thousands of stars sleep in the bed beneath its pillow; millions of ages and centuries go out in the phantom of its shade. The world turns dizzy and amazed before its majesty; dooms break out while it looks calm in its own state. In the scale of its being a mountain and a straw weigh the same. What is this frame of the universe, mercy, O God, mercy, O God.
6. A thousand shadows of mortality fall from its fearsome covering, but the mantle of eternity does not fall from its shoulder. Melodious poems come from the silence of its sigh; meanings surge in its heart from its roaring spirit. Those meanings are born as twins and become a place of both joy and wailing. What is this frame of the universe, mercy, O God, mercy, O God.
7. The eternal blue is the deep sea in which I swim at every moment; the ages gone by are all waves of the footprints on my road. What lies buried in this blue dome is the light of my gaze; the burning lamps of the stars are the night-lights of my tomb. (My road is) a royal road, endless and placeless, that ends in God. What is this frame of the universe, mercy, O God, mercy, O God.
8. The rays of the stars are all sharp tongues of light; they are outstretched forefingers of witness declaring God one. Or they are the eyes of angels for ever given over to wonder; this is an outstretched sign that turns a thread of light into a question mark. The earth says "Lâ ilâhe" (there is no god), the heavens say "illallah" (but God). What is this frame of the universe, mercy, O God, mercy, O God.
9. The song of longing and supplication of angels, men and jinn; the voice of all beings, living and lifeless, laying out their needs; the bending of light, the windings of wind and water; the trembling of plants, the twinkling of the bright stars: all in one harmony circle the holiest threshold. What is this frame of the universe, mercy, O God, mercy, O God.
10. As the stars' gaze of wonder kisses the innocent lip, as the joy of a little child lends tenderness to the heart, as love and beauty spring in a single form from unknown sources and grant the bounty of union to this gathering of friendship, my soul lives; within it, it has found subsistence in God (bekâ). What is this frame of the universe, mercy, O God, mercy, O God.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Between Astronomy and Sufism
The third poem of the divan prepares the reader even with its title: "Hey'et-i Âlem yâhud Abd-i Dâ'im", the frame of the universe, or the eternal servant. In Ottoman Turkish "hey'et" was also the name of astronomy; in the poem words from the new science of the heavens, such as the Milky Way, the solar systems called "manzûme-i şemsiyye", the refraction of light and the twinkling of stars, stand side by side with religious images such as the rosary, remembrance of God, circumambulation and the profession of faith. Cûdî sees the universe both as immeasurably vast and as a servant prostrate before God; the "Abd-i Dâ'im" of the title expresses this second face.
The poem is a müseddes with a refrain, built of ten stanzas of six lines. The first four lines of each stanza rhyme among themselves, the fifth links to the refrain with the sound "-âh", and the sixth is repeated unchanged in every stanza: "Nedir bu hey'et-i âlem amân Allâh amân Allâh." The metre is the hezec pattern of four "mefâîlün" feet. The question in the refrain expects no answer; it is bewilderment and admiration itself.
Order against Chance
The fourth stanza touches on a debate of the poem's own time. Materialist views holding that the universe arose of itself, by chance, were discussed among Ottoman intellectuals at the end of the nineteenth century as well; Cûdî says that chance could not set up such an order, could not be a light wiping away the darkness of nonbeing. The word read "göredir" in the thesis in this stanza seems from the context to give the sense "kördür" (is blind), but this is not certain. The eighth stanza holds the poem's most striking image: the rays of the stars are forefingers of witness declaring God one, and the profession of faith is split in two, the earth saying "Lâ ilâhe", the heavens "illallah".
With the seventh stanza the voice suddenly turns to the first person. The eternal blue becomes the sea in which the poet swims, the past ages the waves of his footprints, the stars the lamps of his tomb. The last stanza brings the great spectacle of the sky down to a small scene: the gaze of the stars kisses a child's innocent lip, and the child's joy lends tenderness to the heart. The poet closes by saying that his soul finds its true life in these moments of love and union, and there attains "bekâ-billâh", subsistence in God. A few words resist the thesis's reading, and there the English can only point the way the sense is going.
Bibliography
- Havva Tok Yıldız, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [1b-43a], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 14-16 (poem no. 3; manuscript fol. 2a-3a). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116853.pdf
Online sources
