Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefʿūlü mefāʿīlü mefāʿīlün faʿ (fāʿ) and Mefʿūlü mefāʿīlü mefāʿīlü feʿūl

İnsānda emel cismdeki ḳan gibidir
Gençlikde ḳavī şeybde yereḳān gibidir
Tāb-āver olur yeʾse dem-i şerḫ ü şebāb
Ḳan ḳuvveti her āfete ḳalḳan gibidir

In English

1. Hope in man is like the blood in the body; strong in youth, in old age like jaundice.

2. The time of early youth and youth gives strength against despair; the strength of the blood is like a shield against every calamity.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The last quatrain of the youth series likens "emel", the hope and desire within man, to the blood in the body. In youth the blood is strong; in old age it is like "yerekân", jaundice: pale and weak. So is hope; lively and strong in the young man, pale in the old. This comparison joins the same family as the images of the lamp, autumn and moonlight seen in the divan's quatrains on old age.

The last line closes with a play of sound: the strength of the blood is a "kalkan", shield, against every calamity; the closeness in sound of the words "kan", blood, and "kalkan" builds the comparison in the ear as well. The strength youth gives against despair also reflects a teacher's trust in his students. In the first quatrain of the series the young who flee the old surroundings were criticized; this last quatrain praises the energy of youth as a shield, a protecting power.

Bibliography

  • Havva Tok Yıldız, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [1b-43a], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, p. 121 (poem no. 159; manuscript fol. 41a). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116853.pdf

Online sources