Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Feʿilātün feʿilātün feʿilātün feʿilün

Gül-i ruḫsārın öpen sünbülüñ āġūşunda
Parlar elmāslar āvīze-i mengūşunda
Çifte kevkeb gibidir nāḥiye-i düşünde
Müncelī ṣubḥ-ı ezel ṭarf-ı bināgūşunda
Muḫtefī şām-ı ebed zülf-i siyeh-pūşende
Yoḳdı ol cāzibe leylāda zelīḫāda bile
Laʿl-i şīrīnde gül-i ʿārıż-ı ʿaẕrāda bile
O ṣafāyı göremem cām-ı muṣaffāda bile
Yoḳ o ḫāṣiyyet-i dem nuṭḳ-ı mesīḥāda bile
Ki var ol rūḥ-ı revānıñ leb-i ḫamūşunda
Levḥa-i ḥüsnini devr eyleyen envār-ı siyāh
Ṣanki eṭrāf-ı ruḫunda ṭolaşan āh ile vāh
Zülf-i müşkīnini ṣarḳıtmış iki yandan āh
Ṭavḳ-ı gīsūda görüp gerdanını reşk ile māh
Ḥalḳa bend ġam olur hāleniñ āġūşunda
Rām olur mı ġama maḥrūm-ı merām olsa daḫı
Behre-i ẕāʾiḳası telḫī-i kām olsa daḫı
Ṭatlı söyler üdebā ḳaṣdı melām olsa daḫı
Ehl-i dil sīne tehī-i mey-i kām olsa daḫı
Neşʾe-i feyż-i ṣafā var dil-i pür cūşunda
Cūdiyā ādeme cennet daḫı olsa meʾvā
İster elbette yanında ola bir de ḥavvā
Ẕevḳ-i ṣoḥbetdir iden neşʾe-i ḳalbi iḥyā
Yārsız nūş idilen cām-ı cemiñ Nāʾiliyā
Ne ṭolusunda ṣafā var u ne de boşunda

In English

1. In the embrace of the hyacinth (the lock) that kisses the rose of her cheek, diamonds shine in the pendant of her earring; it is like a twin star beside her shoulder. The dawn of pre-eternity appears at the edge of her earlobe; the evening of post-eternity hides in her black-clad tress.

2. That allure was not in Leylâ, nor even in Züleyha; not in Shirin's ruby lip, nor even in the rose of 'Azrâ's cheek; I cannot see that delight even in the purest cup. That property of breath is not even in the speech of the Messiah, which is in the silent lip of that flowing soul (the beloved).

3. The black lights circling the tablet of her beauty are as if the "ah"s and "alas"es wandering around her cheek; she has let her musky tress hang down on both sides, alas! Seeing her throat in the collar of tresses, the moon out of jealousy is bound in rings of grief in the embrace of its halo.

4. Does the man of heart submit to grief even when cut off from his wish? Even when his share of taste is bitterness of the palate; the men of letters speak sweetly even when their intent is reproach. The men of heart, even if their breasts are empty of the wine of desire, have in their surging hearts the elation of grace and serenity.

5. Cûdî, even if paradise were Adam's dwelling, he would surely want an Eve beside him as well; it is the delight of conversation that revives the heart's elation. O Nâilî, in the cup of Cem drunk without a beloved there is delight neither when it is full nor when it is empty.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The tahmis is a form of nazire that builds five-line stanzas by adding three lines before each couplet of another poet's ghazal. Here Cûdî makes a tahmis of a ghazal by the poet called "Nâilî-i Cedîd", the new Nâilî; this epithet was given to a poet of a later period who used the same pen name, to distinguish him from Nâilî, the famous poet of the seventeenth century (Nâilî-i Kadîm). The last two lines of each stanza are Nâilî's, the first three Cûdî's; Cûdî's lines are built like an introduction preparing Nâilî's couplet.

The first three stanzas describe the beloved's beauty through her ornaments: the diamonds in her earring are a twin star at her shoulder, the dawn of pre-eternity is at her earlobe, the evening of post-eternity in her black tress. The second stanza lists Leylâ, Züleyha, Shirin and 'Azrâ, holding the beloved above the heroines of all the love stories, and finds even the reviving breath of Jesus wanting beside her silent lip. The fourth stanza changes the tone and says that the man of heart does not submit to grief even when cut off from his wish. The last stanza brings Cûdî's own pen name together with Nâilî's closing couplet: just as Adam wanted an Eve even in paradise, there is delight neither in the full nor in the empty cup of Cem drunk without a beloved.

Bibliography

  • Zeynep Adıyahşi, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [43b-87b], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 81-82 (poem no. 230; manuscript fol. 67b). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116831.pdf

Online sources