Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Mefʿūlü mefāʿīlü mefāʿīlün faʿ (fāʿ) and Mefʿūlü mefāʿīlü mefāʿīlü feʿūl
Ey luṭfı olan derd-i meʿāṣīye devā
Geldim düşe ḳalḳa ḳapuña zār hevā
Bī-rūḥ gelen dergehiñe rūḥ bulur
Bir nefḫañ ider ṭopraġı Ādem, Ḥavvā
In English
1. O You whose kindness is the cure for the ills of sin! Stumbling and rising, moaning, I have come to Your door.
2. Whoever comes lifeless to Your court finds a soul; one breath of Yours makes earth into Adam and Eve.
Literary and Historical Commentary
The first Turkish quatrain of the series fits into four lines a scene often found in the divan's supplications: the servant comes to the door burdened with sin, stumbling and rising, moaning. In the first line God's kindness is called the cure for "derd-i me'âsî", the ills of sin; sin here is a sickness, and its healing lies only in kindness.
The second couplet bases its hope on the story of creation. The Qur'an tells that Adam was created from earth and that God breathed into him of His spirit; Cûdî turns this "nefha", breathing, into a ground for prayer. He who brought Adam and Eve out of earth with one breath can surely give a soul to the one who comes lifeless to His door. The word "bî-rûh", lifeless, describes a heart worn out by sin; the servant coming to the court hopes to live through something like the moment of creation.
Two separate metre notes stand at the head of this quatrain in the thesis. There is no inconsistency in this: the forms "mef'ûlü mefâîlü mefâîlün fa'" and "mef'ûlü mefâîlü mefâîlü feûl" of the rubai metre may be combined in a single quatrain.
Bibliography
- Havva Tok Yıldız, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [1b-43a], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, p. 96 (poem no. 71; manuscript fol. 33b-36a). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116853.pdf
Online sources
