Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün

Vech-i dîdârıñla uşşâḳıñ bütün mestâneler
Kim mey-i mest-i elest olmuş bütün dîvâneler
Raġbet-i “dünyâ ve mâ-fîhâ” kaydından geçip
İḫtiyâr etmiş hěri bir kûşe-i vîrâneler
Vas̱l-ı dîdârıñ ḫayâliyle yanıp ‘aşḳ içre kim
‘Aşḳ odunda kim şehîd olmuş ‘aceb pervâneler
Gizlenip ‘âşıḳlarıñ ḥalḳdan nihân olmuş hemîn
Bilmemiş ḳadr-i kemâlin bî-ḫaber bî-gâneler
Bahr-i ‘aşḳıñ içre bir ḳavvâṣ olup Mir’ât-nümâ
İncü-veş dilden döker kim bî-bahâ dürdâneler

In English

1. All your lovers are drunk with the beauty of your face, madmen made drunk by the wine of the primordial covenant (elest).

2. Passing beyond the bond of desire for “the world and all that is in it”, they have chosen, hey, a corner among the ruins.

3. What strange moths they are, burning in love with the dream of union with your face and martyred in the fire of love.

4. Your lovers have hidden themselves from the people and stayed concealed; heedless strangers have not known the worth of their perfection.

5. Mir'ât-nümâ, become a pearl diver in the sea of your love, pours from his heart priceless pearls.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Book's First Ghazal

After the plain didactic language of the mesnevî the poet passes abruptly into the language of love and intoxication: these five couplets, following the creed section, are the first of the book's thirty-one Turkish ghazals. The rhymes “mestâne, dîvâne, vîrâne, pervâne, bî-gâne, dürdâne”, tied to the refrain “-neler”, carry the rhythm of the poem, which moves in long remel lines of four feet. The “mey-i mest-i elest” of the first couplet alludes to the primordial assembly at which souls said “Yes” to God at creation; the lovers' intoxication comes not from the world but from that first covenant.

Two details in the second couplet are explained in the edition's footnotes. The phrase “dünyâ ve mâ-fîhâ” refers to the hadith that counts the world and all in it as accursed, excepting only the remembrance of God and knowledge; “hěri” is an interjection meaning “hey” that also appears in dictionaries of the Çorum dialect. This mixture of written and spoken language recalls that the poet was a sheikh addressing ordinary people.

Moth and Pearl Diver

The third couplet uses the familiar divan motif of the candle and the moth: the beloved's face is the candle, the lover is the moth burning in its flame. The fourth couplet expresses an idea close to the Naqshbandi principle of “halvet der encümen”, solitude within the crowd; true lovers hide from the people, and strangers do not understand their worth. In the closing couplet, which bears the pen name, the poet depicts himself as a diver plunging into the sea of love and says he pours “dürdâne”, large pearls, from his heart. This image of sea and pearl, frequent throughout the book, marks the places where counsel turns into poetry.

Bibliography

Online sources