Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fāʿilātün fāʿilātün fāʿilātün fāʿilün
Hātif: Görmedi rāḥat zemīne baṣdıġı günden beri
Renc içün ḫalḳ eylemiş Allāh bu nevʿ-i rencberi
Bunca aʿṣār u ḳurūn yer tepdi ḥālā olmadı
Nāʿil aramış ü āzād-ı seyr-i serseri
Ṭabʿ-ı vaḥşet-zād ile ṭoġmuş ki itdi bir zamān
Kendine mesken kühūf-ı kūhī, cevf-i meşceri
Post giydi ṣayda çıḳdı ṭırnaġın gördi ḳaṣīr
Sanki sivriltdi demīr yontdıvü yapdı ḫançeri
Ḳalmadı ḫançerle tīġ ü tīri īcād eyledi
Tīr-i fikrī urdı āteş püsküren bir ejderi
Ejder-i āteş ġişāndan maḳṣadım ṭop u tüfenk
Noldı baḳ insān elinde ṣanʿat-ı āhengeri
Defʿ-i şerr-i müfteris, teshīl-i nefʿ-i ṣayd idi
Evvelā insānda efkār-ı silāḥıñ maṣdarı
Ḥırṣ u naḫvet, ġaṣb u ġāret ṣonradan itdi anı
Ālet-i ẓulm ü teḥakkum, sevṭ-i ḳahr-ı dāveri
Öyle ṭop öyle tüfenk öyle ḳılıç, süngü, bıçaḳ
Raʿd u berḳ inmiş zemīne ẓan ider ins ü perī
Beñzer ol ebr-i keşīfe seyre gelmiş ordular
Çarpışır körler, ṣaçar bārān-ı ḫūn-ı aḥmeri
Ṣād hezārān nev-civān ḫāḳ-ı helāka süprilür
Yıldırım ṣaçdıḳça ordunuñ silāḥ-ı aḫkeri
Ġāʾib eyler biñ peder māder yetişmiş oġlunı
Żāyiʿ eyler biñ püser duḫter eb-i müşfiḳ-teri
Pīrler, ṭullar yetīm evlādlar bī-kes ḳalup
Āhlar çekdikçe ṣarṣarlar bu çarḫ-ı canberi
ʿĀḳıbet bāʿiŝ olan ẓālimleriñ tā başına
İndirirler āteş-i ḳahr-ı ilāh-ı ekberi
Maḥşeri Allāh ḳurar fānīleri iḥyā içün
Bunlar ifnā-yı ḥayāta cemʿ iderler maḥşeri
ʿĀʾile süknāları maḳber mi ḥaşr ü neşr olur
Her sükūn-perver eviñ fırlar yerinden erleri
Birbirinden bī-ḫaber eşḫāṣı ḳırtlaḳ ḳırtlaġa
Ṭutdırır birḳaç ḥarīṣiñ ḥükm-i naḫvet-perveri
Ḫūn-ı insāndan teḥaccür eylemiş yāḳūt ile
Nice milyon ser gider tezyīn içün bir efseri
Ḫalḳdan evvel buyurmuşdı melek aġzıyla ḥaḳ:
Ḳān döker cāy-ı fesād eyler benī ādem biri
Fi'l-ḥaḳīḳa ādem oġlı tā ẓuhūrundan beri
Beyża-i ḥamrāya dönderdi bu ḫāḳ esmeri
Naḫvet ü ḥırṣ u ḥased, meyl-i taḥakkümdür olan
Ādemiñ eñ başlıca ḳarn aġrısı, derd-i seri
Çoḳ ṭamaʿ āḫir ziyān īrāŝ ider dirler ki pek
Toġrıdır ʿOŝmanlınıñ ḫarb-ı miŝāl eşheri
Baḥr-i ebyāż var iken elde gümüş tepsi gibi
Yutmaġa ḳalḳışma layıḳ mıydı baḥr-ı aṣferi
Aleksiyef:
Aleksiyef: Kırmızı ḳanlar behāsıymış meger her mevcesi
Baḥr-ı aṣferden bize toġrı aḳar ṣandıḳ zeri
Çinli'ye evvel paṭırtıyla bıraḳdırdım pabuç
İstedim bir ḳancada ḳoreyi itmek gelberi
Nāzenīn maḳṣada ḳur yapdıġım gördi raḳīb
Bir düvello itdi teklīf almaḳ üzre duḫteri
Añlamışlar Mosḳofuñ ḳof oldıġın benden iyi
Egmedi tehdīdine Rusuñ Japon ḳavmi seri
Cindir anlar Çin degil tehdīd teʾŝīr eylemez
Gürbedir ẓāhirde lākin ḳahr ider şīr-i neri
Devr benim pek ḫaṭā itmiş ufaḳça gösterüp
Ḳavm-i yeʾcūcüñ beni aldatdı cism-i aṣġarı
Fīl ṣandım kendimi gördüm ḳarınca anları
Eyledim iġfāl-i pāy-i taḫtı, ẕāt-ı ḳayṣeri
Seddi yıḳdım fitne-i yeʾcūci īḳāẓ eyledim
Şimdi farḳ itdim ʿulüvv-i himmet-i iskenderi
İsḳirilidof:
İsḳirilidof: Ne donanma sedd çeker ne ordu seyl-i dehşete
Ben firār itmek içün fek itdüm artıḳ lengeri
Eñ güzel çāre buña ḳaçmaḳda ilgār eylemek
İtmede çoḳdan Ḳuropatkin de hep ṣaġdan geri
Aleksiyef:
Aleksiyef: Boş yere çekdiñ göreñ taḥrīk-i ṭūfān eylediñ
Bir ḳażā itdiñ ki berbād eylediñ baḥr u beri
İsḳirilidof:
İsḳirilidof: Pek güzel ḫidmetler itdiñ devleti taḥkīm içün
Ben donanmayı batırdım sen ḳoca bir leşkeri
Hātif: Dökdigiñ ḳana bedel āḫte bu leyle midyede
Aḫtapotlar midyeler ṣarsun seni sen kāfiri
Çoḳ nüfūs ihlāk ider maʿmūreler taḫrīb ider
Dirsiñiz ẕem eyleyüp ṭāʿūn u rīḥ-i ṣarṣarı
Kendiñiz ammā bunı icrāda şān ṭaslarsıñız
Cenk ile eylersiñiz iḥrāz-ı faḫr-ı serveri
Dinleyiñ māhiyet-i ṭabʿ-ı garīb ādemi
Söyleyim bārī sözüñ gelmiş iken ḥāżır yeri
Ḫayr içün muḥtācdır taʿlīm ü icbāre beşer
Şer içün zor istemez pek müstaʿiddir cevheri
Ḥikmetiñden kimseniñ yoḳdur suʾāle cürʿeti
Ey bu şūriş-gāh dehriñ ḫalḳ-ı ḫayr u şerri
In English
1. (The Voice:) He has seen no rest since the day he set foot on the earth; God created this race of toilers for toil.
2. So many ages and centuries he has trodden the earth and still has not attained rest and freedom from vagrant wandering.
3. He was born with a nature that bred savagery, so that for a time he made the caves of mountains and the hollows of forests his dwelling.
4. He wore skins, went hunting, found his nails short; he sharpened iron, chiselled it and made a dagger.
5. He did not stop at the dagger; he invented sword and arrow; the arrow of thought struck a fire-spewing dragon.
6. By the fire-scattering dragon I mean cannon and rifle; see what the smith's art has become in human hands!
7. At first the source of the idea of weapons in man was to ward off the harm of the predator and make the gain of the hunt easier.
8. Greed and arrogance, seizure and plunder later made it an instrument of oppression and domination, the whip of the ruler's wrath.
9. Such cannons, such rifles, such swords, bayonets and knives that men and fairies think the thunder and lightning have come down to earth.
10. The armies come out to the field resemble that dense cloud; the blind clash and scatter a rain of red blood.
11. Hundreds of thousands of young men are swept onto the soil of ruin as the army's weapons scatter lightning.
12. A thousand fathers and mothers lose their grown son; a thousand sons and daughters lose a most tender father.
13. As the old, the widows and orphaned children, left alone, heave sighs, gales (turn) this wheel (the line is not entirely clear).
14. In the end (these sighs) bring down the fire of the wrath of God the Greatest on the very heads of the oppressors who caused it.
15. God sets up the Resurrection to revive the mortal; these men gather a resurrection to destroy life.
16. Are family homes graves, that they should be raised and scattered? From every peace-loving house the men spring from their places.
17. The arrogant command of a few greedy men sets persons who know nothing of each other at one another's throats.
18. Many millions of heads go to adorn a single crown with rubies petrified from human blood.
19. Before creating, God had said through the angels' mouth: "The son of Adam will shed blood and work corruption."
20. Truly, since his first appearance the son of Adam has turned this brown earth into a red egg.
21. Arrogance, greed, envy and the lust to dominate are Adam's foremost bellyache and headache.
22. They say "much greed brings loss in the end"; the Ottomans' most famous proverb is very true.
23. With the White Sea in hand like a silver tray, was it fitting to set out to swallow the Yellow Sea?
24. (Alekseyev:) It turns out that every wave of it was the price of red blood; we thought gold flowed straight to us from the Yellow Sea.
25. First, with a racket, I made the Chinaman drop his slippers; I meant to hook Korea and draw her to me.
26. The rival saw me courting the delicate prize; he proposed a duel to win the girl.
27. They understood better than I that the Muscovite is hollow; the Japanese nation did not bow its head to the Russian's threat.
28. They are not China but jinn; threats have no effect; outwardly they are a cat, but they crush the male lion.
29. Fortune erred badly in showing them so small; the small body of the people of Gog deceived me.
30. I took myself for an elephant and saw them as ants; I misled the capital and the person of the Tsar.
31. I tore down the wall and roused the sedition of Gog; now I see the loftiness of Alexander's resolve.
32. (Skrydlov:) Neither navy nor army can dam the flood of terror; I have now weighed anchor to flee.
33. The best remedy for this is to make haste in flight; Kuropatkin too has long been falling back from the right.
34. (Alekseyev:) You set the flood in motion for nothing; you wrought such a disaster that you ruined both sea and land.
35. (Skrydlov:) You did very fine service in strengthening the state: I sank the navy, you a great army.
36. (The Voice:) In return for the blood you shed (the beginning of the line is not entirely clear) ...; may octopuses and mussels wrap you round, you infidel!
37. Condemning plague and the storm wind, you say, "They destroy many lives and lay waste inhabited places";
38. but you yourselves boast of doing this; through war you win the pride of leadership.
39. Listen to the essence of strange Adam's nature; let me say it, since the word has come to its place:
40. For good, man needs teaching and compulsion; for evil he needs no force, his substance is very apt.
41. O Creator of the good and evil of this world of tumult, no one has the boldness to question Your wisdom.
Literary and Historical Commentary
The longest poem in the divan written directly on a current world event bears the title "Rus u Japon Muhârebesi: hasb-i hâl der-miyân-ı dü emîrâl", the Russo-Japanese War: a heart-to-heart between two admirals. The war between Russia and Japan, who clashed over Manchuria and Korea in 1904-1905, was followed closely in the Ottoman press; Russia's defeat by a country thought small in Asia had a great echo in Ottoman public opinion. The poem is built with three voices: the Hâtif, a voice from the unseen, and two Russian admirals, Alekseyev, the Viceroy of the Far East, and Skrydlov, who was put at the head of the Pacific fleet.
A short history of the weapon
The Voice's long opening speech is a history of mankind and the weapon: man living in caves, wearing skins, finding his nails short and making a dagger of iron, then inventing sword and arrow, and at last the cannon and rifle he calls a "fire-spewing dragon". The first purpose of the weapon is protection from the predator and hunting; greed, arrogance and seizure turn it into an instrument of oppression. Then the cost of war is counted: young men swept onto the soil of ruin, parents losing a grown son, widows and orphans left alone. The nineteenth couplet rests on the angels' saying of the son of Adam in the sura al-Baqara, "he will work corruption and shed blood" (2:30).
The admirals' heart-to-heart
From the twenty-fourth couplet on, the word passes to the admirals and the poem turns into satire. Alekseyev, who thought gold would flow from the Yellow Sea, learns that every wave is the price of blood; wishing to hook Korea like a girl, he is challenged to a duel by his rival Japan. Plays on words such as the Muscovite being "kof", hollow, and the Japanese being "not Çin but cin", not China but jinn, mock the collapse of Russian pride. The allusion to Gog and Alexander's wall carries the account of the sura al-Kahf to the Far East. Skrydlov's weighing anchor to flee and the Russian land commander Kuropatkin's "ever falling back from the right" are current allusions to the course of the war, full of Russian defeats. As the two admirals blame each other, the Voice takes the last word: those who condemn plague and storm boast of war; man needs teaching for good but is apt for evil of his own accord. The poem closes in its last couplet by committing this dark judgement to God's wisdom.
Bibliography
- Zeynep Adıyahşi, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [43b-87b], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 78-81 (poem no. 229; manuscript fol. 66a-66b-67a). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116831.pdf
Online sources
