Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefʿūlü mefāʿīlü mefāʿīlü feʿūlün

Ey nūr ne revnaḳlı ṣafā-yı seḥeriñ var
Lutf eyle yüri dīde gibi reh-güzeriñ var
Gir göñlüme seyr it ne revān-bahş eṣeriñ var
Gülşende seni bekleyen ezhār-ı teriñ var
Pā-būsına āmāde nice bendeleriñ var
Teşrīf it efendim, başım üstinde yeriñ var
Güllerde tebessüm şafaḳ-ı gonce-femiñdir
Rengīn iden ezhārı nigāh görmekdir
İẓhār-ı fürūġ eyileyicek ṣubḥ-demiñdir
Baş tacı, gözüm nūrı, ġubārı ḳademiñdir
Pā-būsıña āmāde nice bendeleriñ var
Teşrīf it efendim, başım üstinde yeriñ var
Dīdār ki göster giceyi ṣubḥ-dem eyle
Bir ḫande ile gülşeni reşk-i irem eyle
Devletli, mürüvvetli efendim kerem eyle
Bir kerre bizim semte de aṭf-ı ḳadem eyle
Pā-būsıña āmāde nice bendeleriñ var
Teşrīf it efendim, başım üstinde yeriñ var
Teşrīfiñ ider gülşeni reşk-āver-i cennet
Her baṣdıcaġıñ yirde açar vird-i meserret
Bu bāġçe seniñdir saña teklīfe ne ḥācet
Lutf eyle teferrüc buyur ey naḫl-i melāḥat
Pā-būsıña āmāde nice bendeleriñ var
Teşrīf it efendim, başım üstinde yeriñ var
Ṭış pencereye çıḳtı baḳar gözde bebekler
Müjgānları eṭrāfa ṭaġıtdı seni bekler
Beyhūde mi yollarda göz açmış bu çiçekler
Teşrīfin içündür bu tedārik, bu emekler
Pā-būsına ḥāżır bu ḳadar bendeleriñ var
Teşrīf buyur, çeşm ü ser üstinde yeriñ var

In English

1. O light, what a bright delight your dawn has! Be so kind, walk on; you have a road like an eye. Enter my heart and see what life-giving works you have; you have fresh flowers waiting for you in the rose garden. You have many servants ready to kiss your feet; honour us, my lord, you have a place above my head.

2. The smile in the roses is the dawn of (your) rosebud mouth; what colours the flowers is seeing your glance. It is your morning that will show the radiance; the dust of your feet is the crown of my head, the light of my eyes. You have many servants ready to kiss your feet; honour us, my lord, you have a place above my head.

3. Show your face, turn the night into morning; with one smile make the rose garden the envy of the garden of Iram. My lord of fortune and generosity, be gracious; turn your steps once towards our quarter too. You have many servants ready to kiss your feet; honour us, my lord, you have a place above my head.

4. Your coming makes the rose garden the envy of Paradise; wherever you step the rose of gladness blooms. This garden is yours, what need is there to invite you? Be kind, come and stroll, O sapling of beauty. You have many servants ready to kiss your feet; honour us, my lord, you have a place above my head.

5. The pupils of the eyes have come out to the window to look; the lashes have spread all around, waiting for you. Have these flowers opened their eyes along the roads in vain? These preparations, these labours are for your coming. You have so many servants ready to kiss your feet; be so good as to come, you have a place above my eyes and my head.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A "Kudûmiyye" is a poem written to welcome someone's arrival, the setting of a foot on one's threshold. This five-stanza müseddes is built on a two-line refrain repeated at the end of every stanza: "Pâ-bûsına âmâde nice bendeleriñ var / Teşrîf it efendim, başım üstinde yeriñ var", you have many servants ready to kiss your feet; honour us, my lord, you have a place above my head. The second line is the poem's version of the hospitable idiom still said today, "you have a place above my head", and gives the poem a warm tone close to spoken language.

Who is being welcomed is not said. On the one hand the forms of address "efendim" (my lord), "devletli, mürüvvetli efendim" (my lord of fortune and generosity) and the servants ready to kiss the feet suggest a guest of high rank; on the other, the rosebud mouth, the face that turns the rose garden into Iram with a smile and the words "sapling of beauty" show that a beloved is being addressed. In divan poetry it is common for the language of the patron and the beloved to blend; this poem too remains open to both readings. The address "ey nûr", O light, in the first line also says that the one arriving is welcomed like a light, like a morning.

The last stanza carries the poem's liveliest image: the pupils of the eyes have come out to the window to see the arrival, the lashes have spread around and begun to wait, and the flowers by the road have opened their eyes to look. All the preparations and labours are for that arrival. In this stanza the last line of the refrain also changes slightly, and instead of "above my head" it says "çeşm ü ser üstinde", above eye and head.

Bibliography

  • Havva Tok Yıldız, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [1b-43a], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 68-69 (poem no. 50; manuscript fol. 22a-22b). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116853.pdf

Online sources