Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fāʿilātün fāʿilātün fāʿilātün fāʿilün
Şevḳ-i ḥamdıñ ḫāmemi evrāḳa itmiş cebhe-sā
Ḥamd-ı şevkıñdir ṣarīr-i ḥāme-i şīrīn-nevā
Cūşiş-i deryā-yı ḥamdıñdır ki taḥrīk itse de
Ḳalbi, nabżı, encümi, eflāki, arżı cā-be-cā
Lemʿa lemʿa āsumān envār-ı şükrān neşr ider
Mevce mevce ʿarż-ı ḥamd eyler saña deryā hevā
Bir vesīle ḥamdiñi tekrar içün kerreʾn-nehār
Bir bahāne şükrüñi tecdīd içün mürreʿn-nesāʿ
Devr-i arż u āsumān u vāreste vü āşūbdur
Merkez-i ḥamdıñda pā-bercā-yı istiḳrār tā
Ḥamdıñ olmuşdur ki miʿrācüʿl-kemāle şāh-per
Olmuş ey Maḥmūd-ı ʿālī-ḥāmidiñ ʿarş-ı aʿlā
Eñ muḳaddes ḥamdım Allāhım saña ḥayrānlıġım
Ḥamdım artar ḥayretim artdıḳca Allāhım saña
Dilde cūş-ı ceẕbeden destimde kilk-i ter-zebān
Baḥr-ı mevvāc üzre bir ney-pāre-i cünbiş nümā
Her mü’eŝŝir nāle-i nażmım firāḳıñdan ḥaber
Her müheyyic naġme-i şevḳim viṣāliñden binā
İḳtirān-ı merd ü zen būs u kenār u ḫandeler
Tāzesin ḥüsn ü niyāz ʿaşḳ u şevḳ u hūy u hā
Her ne varsa hāṣıl-ı ervāḥa leẕẕet-baḫş olan
Cilve-i āŝār-ı maḥmūdiyyetiñdir muṭlaḳā
Maʿrifet-bābın güşād itdüm mevtüñ ḥamd ile
Oldı Cūdī her sözüm bir maṭlaʾ-ı nūrü’l-hüdā
In English
1. The longing to praise you has turned my pen into one who lays its brow upon the pages in prostration; the scratching of my sweet-voiced pen is the praise of that longing.
2. What sets the heart, the pulse, the stars, the spheres and the earth in motion, here and there, is the surging of the sea of your praise.
3. The sky scatters the lights of thanksgiving, gleam upon gleam; sea and air offer you praise, wave upon wave.
4. The return of the days is a pretext for repeating your praise, the passing of the days an excuse for renewing thanks to you.
5. The turning of earth and heaven is a loose and restless thing; at the centre of your praise everything stands firm on its feet. (As read in the thesis the couplet is not entirely clear; this is the direction of its sense.)
6. Your praise has become the royal wing for the ascent (mi'rac) to perfection; O Praised One (Mahmûd), the place of the one who praises you on high has become the highest Throne.
7. My God, my holiest praise is my wonder at you; my God, as my amazement before you grows, my praise grows.
8. From the surging of rapture in my heart, the fresh-tongued pen in my hand is like a piece of reed tossing on a billowing sea.
9. Every moving lament of my verse is news of separation from you; every stirring melody of my longing is built on union with you.
10. The coupling of man and woman, kisses, embraces, laughter; beauty and entreaty, love, longing, the cries of "hû" and "hâ",
11. In short, whatever gives delight to the spirits is without doubt a display of the works of your being praised.
12. I opened the gate of knowledge of God with praise; Cûdî, each of my words became a rising-place (matla) of the light of guidance.
Literary and Historical Commentary
The Opening of the Divan
This poem on the first page of the single-copy divan continues the custom of opening a divan with tevhid and münacat; yet Cûdî does not set out to prove the unity of God, he takes praise itself as his subject. In almost every couplet of the twelve the word "hamd" (praise) or a word from its root appears: hamd, hâmid, Mahmûd, mahmûdiyyet. Running in the four-foot pattern of remel, the couplets rhyme on words ending in a long "â": cebhe-sâ, şîrîn-nevâ, câ-be-câ, hevâ. The pen name comes in the last couplet, where the poet closes by saying that his speech is the rising-place of "nûrü'l-hüdâ", the light of guidance.
The opening couplet builds a scene of worship out of a writing instrument. The pen bending to the paper is likened to a prostration, the scratching of its nib to the sound of praise. By the eighth couplet the same pen has become a "ney-pâre", a piece of reed tossing on the sea of rapture; reed is the material of both the pen and the ney flute, and this double sense suits the poem's way of seeing word and music as coming from one source.
The Praise of the Universe
The second and third couplets take praise from the human tongue and spread it over all being. The beating of the heart, the throb of the pulse, the turning of stars and spheres are the surging of one sea; the sky praises gleam by gleam, the sea wave by wave. The doubled words "lem'a lem'a" and "mevce mevce" make this continuity heard in sound as well. The tenth and eleventh couplets show a surprising breadth: the union of man and woman, the kiss, the embrace and the laugh are counted, like everything that delights the soul, as a display of divine praise. The Sufi view that sees love and beauty as manifestations of God has become in Cûdî a notion of praise that does not shut out worldly joys.
The seventh couplet states the heart of the poem: the holiest praise is wonder, and as amazement grows praise grows with it. The phrase "nûrü'l-hüdâ" in the last line also recalls the name of the poet's first son, Mehmed Nurülhüdâ, who died young; the elegy near the end of the divan is for this son. The text does not show whether a deliberate link between the two is intended. As for the word the thesis reads "mevtüñ" in the closing couplet, it finds no place in the context and leaves the line uncertain.
Bibliography
- Havva Tok Yıldız, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [1b-43a], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 12-13 (poem no. 1; manuscript fol. 1b). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116853.pdf
Online sources
