Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Mefāʿīlün mefāʿīlün mefāʿīlün mefāʿīlün
Zemīn tārīk-i ber-ẓıll, āsumān seyyāl-i ber-deycūr
Zemīn ü āsumān beyninde muẓlim bir yem-i pür-şūr
İki ḳutr-ı tamāmen vaṣla olmuş ḳātr u maḳṭūr
Yaġar şiddetli bir yaġmur ki ṭūfānlar olur mesrūr
Ṣu altında bozulmış cümle eşyā titreyor maḳhūr
Zemīn ṣu, āsumān ṣu, yoḳ ṣudan başḳa olan manẓūr
Şināh eylerdi şimşekler ṣu üstīnde gāh u bī-gāh
Ġarīḳ-i āb olup encām sevindi raʿd u berḳ eyvāh
Bu ṭūfānı göreydi ḥayret eylerdi Neciyyu’l-lāh
Meger her ẕerre bir tenevürdür kim açdılar efvāh
Ṣuyuñ ḥaşrı, ṣuyuñ neşri içün nefḫ eyleyüp bir ṣūr
Sirāfīl itdi Mīkāīʾle keyl-i seyl içün destūr
Ṣuṣup āvāz-ı raʿd āsmāna hep sevindi şimşekler
Ẓalām-ı cehle gūyā inḳılāb itdi bütün şekler
Düşüp gerdūne-i gerdūn şikest oldı tekerlekler
Ṣu devrildi balıḳlar vehme düşdi ḳorḳdı ördekler
Devām eylerse çoḳ müddet bu minvāl üzre bu yaġmur
Ṣu üstinde yüzen mürġ-āb olur göklerde encüm ḫūr
(Fenā-fi’l mā) yı ẕevḳ itmişdi ṭuydım şeyḫ-i ekberden
Ki Fās şehrinde yaġmurdan aḳan miʾzāb-ı aṭhardan
Olup sırrında mülhem vecde geldi feyż-i aẓherden
Ṣuyıñ ṭāʿātı üzre ẓāhir oldu aḳdı maẓhardan
Şu anda bende oldum iḳtidā-yı raḥmet-i meʾmūr
Bütün rūḥumda bir āheng-i selsāl-ı ṣafā mezmūr
İdüp taṭbīḳ-i mevcūdiyyetim āheng-i bārāne
Aḳar rūḥum, aḳar ḳalbim, aḳar ḥasm-ı ḫamūşāne
Bu āhengi ider teşmīl-i ẕevḳim cümle ekvāne
Bütün ʿālem dönüp peyveste bir baḥr-ı ḫurūşāne
Aḳar gökler, aḳar yerler aḳar aṣvāt dūr-ā-dūr
Şu anda mā-sivāllāh ṣu olup hep aḳmaġa mecbūr
In English
1. The earth is darkened with shadow, the sky flows on in pitch-black gloom; between earth and sky a dark and roaring sea. The two poles, what drips and what is dripped upon, have wholly joined; such a violent rain falls that floods rejoice. All things, ruined under the water, tremble overwhelmed; earth is water, sky is water, nothing is seen but water.
2. Lightning now and then swam on the face of the water; in the end, drowned in the water, thunder and lightning went out, alas! Had the one God saved (Noah) seen this flood he would have marvelled; it seems every mote was an oven that had opened its mouth. For the gathering and the spreading of the waters Isrâfîl blew a trumpet and gave Mîkâîl leave to measure out the flood.
3. Thunder fell silent in the skies and all the lightnings went out; it was as if the darkness of ignorance had changed every shape. The cart of the sphere fell and its wheels broke; the water overturned, the fish fell into alarm, the ducks took fright. If this rain goes on long in this manner, the waterbird swimming on the water will become star and sun in the skies.
4. I heard of the Greatest Sheikh (Ibn Arabî) that he had tasted "annihilation in water": in the city of Fez, from the water of a pure gutter running with rain, inspiration came to his inner self and he fell into rapture through the most manifest bounty; he appeared from that place of manifestation upon the worship of the water and flowed. At this moment I too have followed the mercy that is commanded; in my whole soul a flowing harmony of delight is sung.
5. I have tuned my being to the harmony of the rain: my soul flows, my heart flows, my body flows silently. My delight spreads this harmony to all beings; the whole world turns into one unbroken, roaring sea. The skies flow, the earths flow, sounds flow from afar to afar; at this moment everything but God is turned to water and bound to flow.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Annihilation in the Rain
Opening with the description of a downpour, the müseddes "Yağmur" (Rain) closes with a Sufi experience. The first three stanzas describe the rain almost as a flood: between earth and sky there is a dark sea, the two poles have joined, earth and sky alike are water. The second stanza refers openly to Noah's flood. Drawing on the Qur'anic expression "the oven boiled over" (Hûd 11:40), the poet says that every mote was an oven that had opened its mouth; the word read "tenevürdür" in the thesis should in this context be understood as "tennûr", oven. Then the roles of the angels are assigned: Isrâfîl blows the trumpet, and Mîkâîl, the angel in charge of rain, is given leave to measure out the flood.
The third stanza brings the flood to life with a playful detail: the cart of the sphere overturns and its wheels break, the fish fall into alarm, the ducks take fright; if the rain goes on like this the waterbirds will rise to the skies and become stars. This scene recalls, like "Levhâ-i Bahâr" in the divan, the poet's observations nourished by real landscapes.
The fourth stanza is the key to the poem. The poet says he heard that the Greatest Sheikh, Ibn Arabî, experienced "annihilation in water" at the head of a gutter running with rainwater in Fez; he does not give the source of this account, and it could not be verified here. The last stanza tells the poet's own experience: he tunes his being to the harmony of the rain, his soul, heart and body flow, and the whole world turns into one roaring sea. The closing line turns the most basic idea of Sufism into water: everything other than God, "mâ-sivâ", is bound to become water and flow. Only He remains.
Bibliography
- Havva Tok Yıldız, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [1b-43a], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 81-82 (poem no. 58; manuscript fol. 27a-27b). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116853.pdf
Online sources
