Original Persian Text
اسکندر اکر داشته شمشیر دراز
دانسته نشد عمر جهانکیر دراز
آسایش عالم همه از روی حجاز
غوغا بدمی صلح بتدبیر دراز
Transliteration (not given in the thesis; the reading is ours):
İskender eger dâşte şemşîr-i dırâz
Dânste neşod ʿumr-i cihângîr dırâz
Âsâyiş-i ʿâlem heme ez rûy-ı Ḥicâz
Ġavġâ be-demî ṣulḥ be-tedbîr-i dırâz
In English
1. Though Alexander had a long sword, it could not be known that the world-conqueror's life would be long.
2. All the peace of the world comes from the face of the Hijaz; strife comes in a moment, peace through long deliberation.
Literary and Historical Commentary
The word "dırâz", long, serves three times as the rhyme of this Persian quatrain, which moves on a contrast of length and shortness. Alexander's sword is long, but his life is not; in the literature of the East the early death of Alexander, conqueror of the world, is the best-known example that power cannot lengthen life. The first couplet gives this idea through a play on words: the long sword did not bring a long life.
The second couplet carries the subject from conquest to peace. The peace of the world comes "from the face of the Hijaz"; the Hijaz, where Mecca and Medina lie, is here the emblem of Islam and the order of peace it brought. The last line is a saying of statecraft: strife breaks out in a moment, while peace is built through long deliberation and patient thought. Coming from a poet who sat in the Ottoman parliament, these words can also be read as counsel given in years of frequent wars; since the date of the quatrain is unknown, the link cannot be confirmed.
Bibliography
- Havva Tok Yıldız, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [1b-43a], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, p. None (poem no. 95; manuscript fol. ). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116853.pdf
Online sources
