Poem 10 — Der mebde-i vücûd nedânem çesân şodem

Original Persian Text

Metre: Mefʿūlü fāʿilātü mefāʿīlü fāʿilün

در مبدأ وجود ندانم چمسان شدم
ارینستی چه شدکه بهستی رسان شدم

بس فکر کردم اگلامدم سر و حکمتن
من صد هزار شکله کیروب این و آن شدم

در بحر موجه کشتم ازان پس نجار اولوب
چیقدم جباله بر سر آنها دومان شدم

برف و تکرک اولوب یره دوشدم تکرلنوب
که قطره قطره بر سر عام یاغان شدم

در قعرآب کاه نشمستم صدف شدم
درآمدم وقرطۀ کوش زنان شدم

انداختندکاه بکلجان که کابکم
کاهی قماش انفس و زیب دکان شدم

سربر زمین زدم،جووکندم،چمن شدم
در آسیاب کشتم و در سفره نان شدم

کردم کذر زحلقۀ حلقوم مرد و زن
محبس نشین معدۀ پیروجوان شدم

کفتذ لاشه در دل مقبر کزاشتذ
ممکن نشد نشسته ازابخاروان شدم

بر تاختم تبخت هوا بوسه هازدم
بر چهرۀ بنات نبات اهشان شدم

لطفم نمود باغ،درآغوش خود کشید
چیزی دکر شدم، بر هر بوستان شدم

آلوشدم، لکل شدم، انکورو سیب هم
کاهی پیاز و کندنی و بادلجان شدم

کشتم خروش وزاغ و زغن، ماکیان شدم
زنبور و نسر طائر و باز پران شدم

کرک آمدم غنیمت اغنام برده ام
که کوسفند وبرۀ شیرین دهان شدم

شیرآمدم زبنیئ من کربه اوفتاد
در مطبخ فقیر و توانکر صیچان شدم

پالان زدند و زین و سمر هم نهاده اند
بر پشست من،چو اشترواسب دوان شدم

درآمدم بکا لبدی هم بدر شدم
در ممکنات سرسرئ بی مکان شدم

من بو دم دشما شدم آخر شوم هم او
ازبودنم ببودن دیکر روان شدم

هر صورتی که نقش هیولای من شده
از منت منی بر هیدم بران شدم

آدم شدم بجنت عرفان بز یستم
کر دم کناه و لطمه خور امتحان شدم

حوا شدم که قابلۀ حبل هابلم
آبستن شقا و سعادت همان شدم

عابد شدمبجبهۀ من نقش بو ریا
رندآمدم نسبک ملامت نشان شدم

بر قلۀ کینسه کهی در درافغان
که بر مناره نغمۀ بانک اذان شدم

افتادم و نهان شدم اندرچه خمول
که بر زبان عالمیان داستان شدم

در بحر بی سکون وجود آن منم چوموج
که شورم افتاد و که اندر امان شدم

آمد وجود، باد هوا،هم ببادرفت
آخر نه سودکردم و نه در زیان شدم

القصه: من بعام اعیان عیان شدم
پیوسته همچنین شدم و همچنان شدم

چیزی نمانداز عرض و جوهر وجود
الا مراشد آینه دروی عیان شدم

از قید مشکلات ینا سوده ام دمی
فریاد ازین جود که بیزار جان شدم

اکنون بشکل آرمی یم چون شوم روان
فردا ندا نحم که چنین یا چنان شدم

اول بنود،فکر تناسخ، پش آن شدم
از صلب وهم، زادۀ هند و شان شدم

شیر کمان فلسفه خوردم، جوان شدم
بر خاستم زهند و رواندر جهان شدم

ایران زمین هم ازکندر مننشدرها
در تکیه هاومدرسه ها میهان شدم

در مجلس که بحث من افتاد در میان
از طبع هرکسی بنمودم، بیان شدم

نام مرا چو راز طریقت نهاده اند
از مرشدی به چیر دکر ارمغان شدم

پنداشتند سر تصوف مراز وهم
بوسه نواز جهرۀ هر بد کمان شدم

هم آمدم بروم و کرامت فروختم
درکاهها کشادم و قطب زمان شدم

اغرب که من زقالب خوددر کذاشتم
حالا مزار محترم زائران شدم

پرسیدم از زمین که چه شد سرکذشت تو؟
کفتا که: من چوذات شما هیچ دان شدم

بشنیده ام که مادر من آفتاب بود
زادم زآن برادر سیار کان شدم

مادر نموده یکتنهدر عالم ظهور
پنهان شدم چو همکنان اندر میان شدم

بو دم اثیر منتضح اندر ته فضا
باریکتر زوهم و سراب یبان شدم

کشتم لهیب نائره و قرص آتشین
بیرون زحد دائرۀ آسمان شدم

سیارۀ پسین که اورا پنتنست نام
تبخالۀ لبم شده من پیش ازان شدم

سیالۀ شدم متمیع مس مذاب
انکینحتم شراره شراره جهان شدم

برهم شدم زجاذبۀ مرکزم همان
سفیتدم از کثافت خوداستوان شدم

اعصار بی شمار کذشت این قشور سخت
بستم، فسردم این کرۀ خاکدان شدم

دردل بسوزدآنش دوزخنشان هنوز
بر پو ستینم ارچه بطوفان عیان شدم

بس رعشه ها وزلزله هابر نموده ام
کاه ازتفم جزیر و کوه دمان شدم

این طورها قرین ظنون فنون شده
پندار اقدمن پسین راکمان شدم

انصاف دادم آنچه زمین کفت، مستقیم
من ازر کیک و هم خود افسانه ضوان شدم

جودی بدین بدیعه که کفتیتراسزد
کفتن که من بپایۀ سعدی رسان شدم

Reading in Latin letters (the reading is ours):

Der mebde-i vücûd nedânem çesân şodem
Ez nîstî çe şod ki be-hestî resân şodem

Bes fikr kerdem añlamadım sırr u hikmeten
Men sad hezâr şekle girüp în ü ân şodem

Der bahr mevce gaştem, ez-ân pes buhâr olup
Çıkdım cibâle, ber ser-i ânhâ dumân şodem

Berf ü tegerg olup yere düşdüm tekerlenüp
Geh katre katre ber ser-i ʿâlem yağan şodem

Der kaʿr-ı âb gâh nişestem, sadef şodem
Dürr âmedem ü kurṭa-i gûş-ı zenân şodem

Endâhtend gâh [?]
Gâhî kumâş-ı enfes ü zîb-i dükân şodem

Ser ber zemîn zedem, cev ü gendüm, çemen şodem
Der âsyâb gaştem ü der sofre nân şodem

Kerdem güzer zi halka-i hulkûm-ı merd ü zen
Mahbes-nişîn-i maʿide-i pîr ü civân şodem

Goftend lâşe, der dil-i makber güzâştend
Mümkin neşod nişeste, ez-ân buhâr-ı revân şodem

Ber tâhtem be-taht-ı hevâ, bûsehâ zedem
Ber çihre-i benât-ı nebât [?] şodem

Lutfem nümûd bâğ, der âğûş-ı hod keşîd
Çîzî diger şodem, ber-i her bûstân şodem

Âlû şodem, [?] şodem, engûr u sîb hem
Gâhî piyâz u gendenâ vü bâdincân şodem

Gaştem horûs u zâğ u zağan, mâkiyân şodem
Zenbûr u nesr-i tâʾir ü bâz-ı perrân şodem

Gürg âmedem, ganîmet-i ağnâm burde-em
Geh gûsfend ü berre-i şîrîn-dehân şodem

Şîr âmedem, zi bînî-i men gürbe uftâd
Der matbah-ı fakîr ü tüvânger sıçan şodem

Pâlân zedend ü zîn ü [?] hem nihâde-end
Ber püşt-i men, çü üştür ü esb devân şodem

Der âmedem be-kâlıbî, hem be-der şodem
Der mümkinât serserî-i bî-mekân şodem

Men bûdem ü şümâ şodem, âhir şevem hem û
Ez bûdenem be-bûden-i dîger revân şodem

Her sûretî ki nakş-ı heyûlâ-yı men şode
Ez minnet-i menî [?] şodem

Âdem şodem, be-cennet-i ʿirfân be-zîstem
Kerdem günâh u latme-hor-ı imtihân şodem

Havvâ şodem ki kâbile-i habl-ı Hâbilem
Âbisten-i şekâ vü saʿâdet hemân şodem

ʿÂbid şodem, be-cebhe-i men nakş-ı bûryâ
Rind âmedem, be-sebk-i melâmet nişân şodem

Ber kulle-i kenîse gehî [?]
Geh ber menâre nağme-i bâng-ı ezân şodem

Uftâdem ü nihân şodem ender çeh-i humûl
Geh ber zebân-ı ʿâlemiyân dâstân şodem

Der bahr-ı bî-sükûn-ı vücûd ân menem çü mevc
Geh şûrem uftâd u geh ender emân şodem

Âmed vücûd, bâd-ı hevâ, hem be-bâd reft
Âhir ne sûd kerdem ü ne der ziyân şodem

El-kıssa men be-ʿâlem-i aʿyân ʿayân şodem
Peyveste hem-çünîn şodem ü hem-çünân şodem

Çîzî nemând ez ʿaraz u cevher-i vücûd
İllâ merâ şod âyîne, der vey ʿayân şodem

Ez kayd-ı müşkilât neyâsûde-em demî
Feryâd ez în vücûd ki bîzâr-ı cân şodem

Aknûn be-şekl-i âdemî-yem, çün şevem revân
Ferdâ nedânem ki çünîn yâ çünân şodem

Evvel nebûd fikr-i tenâsüh, pes ân şodem
Ez sulb-i vehm zâde-i Hindûstân şodem

Şîr-i gümân-ı felsefe hordem, civân şodem
Ber-hâstem zi Hind ü revân der cihân şodem

Îrân-zemîn hem ez güzer-i men neşod rehâ
Der tekyehâ vü medresehâ mihmân şodem

Der meclisî ki bahs-i men uftâd der miyân
Ez tabʿ-ı her kesî be-nümûdem, beyân şodem

Nâm-ı merâ çü râz-ı tarîkat nihâde-end
Ez mürşidî be-pîr-i diger armağân şodem

Pendâştend sırr-ı tasavvuf merâ zi vehm
Bûse-nevâz-ı çihre-i her bed-gümân şodem

Hem âmedem be-Rûm u kerâmet ferûhtem
Dergâhhâ güşâdem ü kutb-ı zamân şodem

Ağreb ki men zi kâlıb-ı hod der-güzâştem
Hâlâ mezâr-ı muhterem-i zâʾirân şodem

Pürsîdem ez zemîn ki çe şod sergüzeşt-i tû
Goftâ ki men çü zât-ı şümâ hîç-dân şodem

Beşnîde-em ki mâder-i men âftâb bûd
Zâdem zi ân, birâder-i seyyâregân şodem

Mâder nümûde yek-tene der ʿâlem-i zuhûr
Pinhân şodem çü hem-genân ender miyân şodem

Bûdem esîr-i münteşir ender te-i fezâ
Bârîktar zi vehm ü serâb-ı beyâbân şodem

Gaştem lehîb-i nâʾire vü kurs-ı âteşîn
Bîrûn zi hadd-i dâʾire-i âsmân şodem

Seyyâre-i pesîn ki ûrâ Neptün est nâm
Tebhâle-i lebem şode, men pîş ez-ân şodem

Seyyâle şodem mütemeyyiʿ çü mis-i müzâb
Engîhtem şerâre, şerâre-cihân şodem

Ber-hem şodem zi câzibe-i merkezem hemân
[?] ez kesâfet-i hod üstüvân şodem

Aʿsâr-ı bî-şümâr güzeşt, în kuşûr-ı saht
Bestem, fesürdem, în küre-i hâkdân şodem

Der dil be-sûzed âteş-i dûzah-nişân henûz
Ber pûstînem erçi be-tûfân ʿayân şodem

Bes raʿşehâ vü zelzelehâ ber-nümûde-em
Gâh ez tefem cezîre vü kûh-ı demân şodem

În tavrhâ karîn-i zunûn-ı fünûn şode
Pendâr-ı akdemîn, pesîn râ gümân şodem

İnsâf dâdem ânçe zemîn goft müstakîm
Men ez rekîk-i vehm-i hod efsâne-hân şodem

Cûdî, bedîn bedîʿa ki goftî tu-râ sezed
Goften ki men be-pâye-i Saʿdî resân şodem

In English

1. At the origin of being I do not know how I came to be; what happened that from non-being I reached being?

2. I thought much and did not grasp its secret and wisdom; entering a hundred thousand shapes, I became this and that.

3. In the sea I became a wave; then, turning to vapour, I climbed the mountains and became mist upon their peaks.

4. Turning to snow and hail I fell rolling to the ground; at times I became what rains drop by drop upon the world.

5. Sometimes I sat at the bottom of the water and became a shell; I came forth a pearl and became the earring of women.

6. Sometimes they cast (unread) ...; sometimes I became the finest cloth and the ornament of the shop.

7. I struck my head on the earth and became barley and wheat and meadow; I turned in the mill and became bread on the table.

8. I passed through the ring of the throat of man and woman; I became a prisoner in the stomach of old and young.

9. They said "a corpse" and laid me in the heart of the grave; it was not possible to stay sitting there, and from there I became flowing vapour.

10. I galloped to the throne of the air and gave kisses; on the faces of the daughters of the plants (the flowers) I became ... (the last word is uncertain).

11. The garden showed me kindness and drew me into its embrace; I became something else, the fruit of every orchard.

12. I became plum, (unread), grape and apple too; sometimes I became onion and leek and aubergine.

13. I became rooster and crow and kite, I became hen; I became bee and soaring eagle and flying falcon.

14. I came as a wolf and carried off sheep as booty; sometimes I became a sheep and a sweet-mouthed lamb.

15. I came as a lion; from my nose the cat fell; in the kitchen of poor and rich I became a rat.

16. They put a pack-saddle and saddle and (unread) on my back; I became a runner like camel and horse.

17. I entered a mould, and came out of it as well; among the things that can be I became a placeless vagabond.

18. I was I and became you; in the end I shall become him too; from my being I flowed into another being.

19. Every form that became the imprint of my prime matter, (the second line could not be fully read) ...

20. I became Adam and lived in the paradise of gnosis; I sinned and became the one who takes the blow of the trial.

21. I became Eve, who is the midwife of Abel's pregnancy; at once I became pregnant with misery and bliss.

22. I became a devout worshipper, on my forehead the print of the reed mat; I came as a rind and became a mark in the manner of blame.

23. Sometimes on the top of the church (unread) ...; sometimes on the minaret I became the melody of the call to prayer.

24. I fell and was hidden in the well of obscurity; sometimes I became a tale on the tongues of all the world.

25. In the restless sea of being, I am that one, like a wave; sometimes I fell into turmoil, sometimes I came into safety.

26. Being came, a wind of air, and went with the wind as well; in the end I neither made profit nor came to loss.

27. In short, I became manifest in the world of entities; continually I became like this and became like that.

28. Nothing remained of the accident and substance of being that did not become a mirror to me, in which I was manifest.

29. From the bond of difficulties I have not rested a moment; alas for this being, of which I have grown weary in my soul.

30. Now I am in human shape; when I depart, I do not know whether tomorrow I shall have become this or that.

31. At first there was no idea of transmigration; then I became that; from the loins of fancy I became a child of India.

32. I drank the milk of philosophy's conjecture and grew young; I rose from India and went forth into the world.

33. The land of Iran too was not spared my passing; in lodges and madrasas I became a guest.

34. In every gathering where talk of me arose, I showed myself according to each one's temperament and became an exposition.

35. They named me the secret of the path; from one guide I became a gift to another master.

36. Out of fancy they took me for the secret of Sufism; I became the kisser of the face of every ill-thinking man (the sense of the line is not entirely clear).

37. I came to Rûm too and sold miracles; I opened lodges and became the pole of the age.

38. The strangest thing is that I left my own mould; now I have become a shrine revered by visitors.

39. I asked the earth: "What has befallen you?" It said: "Like your own selves, I have become one who knows nothing.

40. I have heard that my mother was the sun; I was born of it and became the brother of the planets.

41. My mother appeared alone in the world of appearance; I was hidden when I came among my peers.

42. I was ether spread out in the depth of space; I became finer than fancy and the mirage of the desert.

43. I became the flame of a blaze and a fiery disc; I went beyond the bound of the sky's circle.

44. The last planet, whose name is Neptune, is a blister on my lip; I came to be before it.

45. I became a flowing liquid like molten copper; I threw up sparks and became a world of sparks.

46. I was drawn together by the gravity of my centre; (unread) through my own density I became firm.

47. Countless ages passed; I bound this hard crust, I congealed, I became this globe of earth.

48. Hellish fire still burns in my heart, though upon my skin I appeared with floods.

49. I have shown many tremors and earthquakes; sometimes from my heat I became islands and smoking mountains.

50. These stages have become companions of the conjectures of the sciences; what was the fancy of the ancients I became, a conjecture for those who came later."

51. I granted in fairness that what the earth said was straight; I, from the poverty of my own fancy, had become a teller of tales.

52. Cûdî, with this novel piece you have spoken, it befits you to say: "I have reached the rank of Sa'dî."

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Turkish heading couplet opens this long Persian poem in the divan: "Just as this superstition came to Rûm from Persia, so my verse too came from the pen in its own tongue." The poet counts metempsychosis, the belief in the transmigration of souls, a superstition that came from the Persian world, and satirizes it in a poem that is itself in Persian. The Persian sub-heading ties the poem to a story: "I heard a transmigrationist saying thus." The text is Persian, but with Turkish words and suffixes such as "añlamadım", "girüp", "çıkdım", "yere düşdüm tekerlenüp", "yağan" and "sıçan" it carries the air of a mixed-language mülemma; this mixture also serves the poem's mocking tone.

Transmigration in its own words

In the first thirty couplets the speaker is a believer in transmigration. He begins by saying he does not know how he came from non-being into being, and with "I entered a hundred thousand shapes" tells a chain of transformations: sea wave, vapour, mist on the mountain top, snow and hail, rain, shell, pearl, a woman's earring; then earth, wheat, bread, the human stomach, the dead body, and vapour again. Then come fruits, vegetables, birds, wolf and lamb, lion and cat, camel and horse. The saying in the fifteenth couplet, "from the lion's nose the cat fell", rests on the folk tale that on Noah's ark the cat was created from the lion's sneeze. This sequence is a story that mixes the circulation of matter in nature with the transmigration of souls, and the poet exaggerates it on purpose. Then come Adam and Eve, worshipper and rind, church and minaret; the speaker says that together with being he continually became "this and that", but in the end made neither profit nor loss.

The journey of an idea

From the thirty-first couplet on, the identity of the speaker changes: now the idea of transmigration itself takes the word. "From the loins of fancy I became a child of India," it says; it tells how it grew on the milk of philosophy's conjecture, passed into Iran and became a guest in lodges and madrasas, was counted the secret of the Sufi path, and at last came to Rûm as a "pole of the age" who sold miracles and opened lodges. This section carries the same harshness as the divan's criticisms of the lodge and the sheikh; the journey of an idea from India to Anatolia ends with its turning more and more into a trade and a visit to a shrine.

The earth's answer

In the thirty-ninth couplet the poet asks the earth what has befallen it, and the poem suddenly passes into the narrative of modern science. The earth tells that its mother was the sun, that from a fine matter spread out in space it turned into a fiery disc, a liquid like molten copper, then a globe drawn together by the gravity of its centre and forming a crust. This is the poetic counterpart of the nebular hypothesis known in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by the names of Kant and Laplace. The naming of Neptune, discovered in 1846, as "a blister on my lip" shows that the poem came from a pen that followed the astronomy of its day. Earthquakes, volcanoes and islands are also part of this geological narrative.

In the fifty-first couplet the poet gives his judgement: what the earth said is straight, while he himself had become a teller of tales from the poverty of fancy. When the endless transformations of transmigration and the measurable history of the earth are set side by side, the first remains superstition and the second knowledge. The closing couplet claims with a joke that this "bedî'a", this novel and surprising piece written in Persian, gives the poet the right to say that he has reached the rank of Sa'dî. In the thesis the text is given only in Arabic script and some words are corrupted in the typesetting; the reading in Latin letters is ours, and places that could not be resolved are openly marked in the reading and the translation.

Bibliography

• Zeynep Adıyahşi, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [43b-87b], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 28-32 (poem no. 186; manuscript fol. 46a-46b-47a). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116831.pdf

Online sources

• http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116831.pdf