Original Arabic Text

Metre: Rajaz (no metre is given in the thesis)

اعزتی اعزتی ترحموا بذاتی
قد اقتفیت اثرکم فانتمو ادلتی
سعیت فی طریقکم وما انابمسرع
فشد رجل همتی من الهوا تعلتی
انا الغیی بالعناء والهوئ بالهوا
اناالعلیل والمعلل بکل علة
وقعت فی غیابة الغوایة اخرجو بیآ
خذوا یدی لا توأخذوا عمی الجبلة
اسادتی رجوت ان تعاونوا فقیرکم
اناالعدیم والمقل مأاشد قلتی
ترحلو بکم بکفکم زمان ذمتی
هدیت هدی مهجتی جنابکم محلتی
الا ارجعوا و رائکم من الشموس اقتبس
سحی السحاب انجمی سری الطریق ضلت
توجهی الیکموا فو جهون لمعة
فیا شموس یابدور نوروا اهلتی
فحبکم محجتی ومهجتی و بهجتی
وعهدکم علی وفائه ابتناء ملتی

Reading in Latin letters (the reading is ours):

Eʿizzetî eʿizzetî terahhamû bi-zilletî
Kadi'ktefeytu eserakum fe-entumû edilletî
Saʿaytu fî tarîkikum ve mâ ene bi-musriʿin
Fe-şedde ricle himmetî mine'l-hevâ taʿilletî
Ene'l-gaviyyu bi'l-ʿanâʾi ve'l-heviyyu bi'l-hevâ
Ene'l-ʿalîlu ve'l-muʿallelu bi-kulli ʿilletî
Vakaʿtu fî gayâbeti'l-gıvâyeti ahricû bî
Huzû yedî lâ tuʾâhizû ʿama'l-cibilletî
E-sâdetî recevtu en tuʿâvinû fakîrakum
Ene'l-ʿadîmu ve'l-mukillu mâ eşedde killetî
[?]
Hudîtu [?] cenâbukum mahalletî
E-lâ irciʿû verâʾekum mine'ş-şumûsi aktebis
[?]
Teveccuhî ileykumû fe-vechuhunne lemʿatun
Fe-yâ şumûsu yâ budûru nevvirû ehilletî
Fe-hubbukum mahaccetî ve muhcetî ve behcetî
Ve ʿahdukum ʿalâ vefâʾihî'btinâʾu milletî

In English

1. O my dear ones, my dear ones, have mercy on my lowliness; I have followed your trace, for you are my guides.

2. I ran upon your path, but I am not swift; the pretexts of desire have bound the foot of my resolve.

3. I am the one led astray by toil and fallen through passion; I am the sick one, afflicted with every ailment.

4. I fell into the depths of the well of error; bring me out; take my hand, do not hold me to account for the blindness of my nature.

5. My masters, I hoped you would help your poor one; I am destitute and needy; how severe is my want!

6. (Unread) ...; (unread) ... your threshold is my dwelling.

7. Turn back, that I may take light from the suns behind you; (the second line could not be read) ...

8. My turning is towards you, for your faces are a gleam; O suns, O full moons, illumine my crescents.

9. Your love is my road, my heart's blood and my joy; and on the keeping of your covenant the building of my faith is founded.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The title of this Arabic poem sets a scene: "The plea of the one on foot to the mounted men of God." In the Sufi tradition the "ricâlullâh", the men of God, are the saints who have advanced on the spiritual path; the poet sees himself as one on foot walking behind them and unable to catch up. Cûdî, who harshly criticized false sheikhs in the preceding poems, here begs the true saints in all humility; this side-by-side placement shows that what the poet opposed was the corrupted state of Sufism.

The poem builds a rhythm of entreaty with the short, quick steps of the rajaz metre, and all the couplets meet in rhymes ending in the sound "-letî". The phrase "gayâbetü'l-cüb", the bottom of the well, from the story of Joseph, turns in the fourth couplet into "the well of error"; the contrast of the walker and the rider becomes concrete in the second couplet, where the pretexts of desire bind the foot of resolve. The last couplets see the saints as suns and full moons, and the poet as a crescent waiting for light. In the thesis the text is given only in Arabic script, and the typesetting of the sixth and seventh couplets is corrupted; since these places could not be read, they are left blank in the translation.

Bibliography

  • Zeynep Adıyahşi, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [43b-87b], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 45-46 (poem no. 202; manuscript fol. 54a). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116831.pdf

Online sources