Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün

Böyledir ‘aşḳ ehli bil her ḥâlde dünyâdan geçer
İstemez bâb-ı rıżâdan ġayr-i eşyâdan geçer
Bî-te‘alluḳdur Ḫudâ’dan başḳa bilmez ‘âşıḳān
Ġarḳ olur envâr-ı ‘aşḳa ẕevk-i uḳbâdan geçer
Râh-ı ‘aşḳ içre bugün Mecnûn olan ‘âşıḳ yarın
Vâṣıl-ı mevlâ olur bî-şüphe Leylâ’dan geçer
Söyleme terk-i melâmet etmeyiz biz ẕâhide
Ṣanma böyle mest olan ‘âlemde sevdâdan geçer
Ẕâhidiñ aldañmanız tesbiḥiniñ peyvendine
Vermese Ḥaḳ rızḳı bir gün lâ der illâdan geçer
Kim yanarsa âteş-i ‘aşḳ içre ger Mir’at-nümâ
Şüphesiz ḳalmaz göñülde ḫavf-i nîrândan geçer

In English

1. Know that the people of love are thus: in every state they pass beyond the world; they want nothing but the door of His pleasure, they pass beyond things.

2. Lovers are free of attachment and know none but God; they drown in the lights of love and pass beyond even the delight of the hereafter.

3. The lover who is Mecnun on the road of love today will surely reach the Lord tomorrow and pass beyond Leylâ.

4. Tell the ascetic: we do not give up the path of blame; do not think one so drunk will pass beyond passion in this world.

5. Do not be deceived by the string of the ascetic's rosary; if God withholds his daily bread one day, he says “lâ” and passes over “illâ”.

6. Mir'ât-nümâ, whoever burns in the fire of love surely has no fear of hellfire left in his heart; he passes beyond it.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Love and Blame with the Refrain “Geçer”

After the harshness of the section on false dervishes, the ghazal returns to the language of love. In every couplet the lover is said to “pass beyond” something, to leave it behind, and the refrain “-dan geçer”, passes beyond, repeats this renunciation couplet by couplet, in a remel of four feet: the world, things, the delight of the hereafter, Leylâ and the fear of hell. The rhyme words “dünyâ, eşyâ, ‘uḳbâ, Leylâ, sevdâ, illâ, nîrân” are the steps of this renunciation.

In the third couplet the story of Mecnun and Leylâ is used with a Sufi interpretation: today's Mecnun reaches the Lord tomorrow and passes beyond Leylâ. The idea that human love is a step towards divine love strikes an interesting balance when compared with the line in another ghazal of the work that counts the love of Ferhad and Mecnun “fruitless”. The words “terk-i melâmet etmeyiz”, we do not give up blame, in the fourth couplet connect with the melâmet outlook that accepts the reproach of the people.

The sharpest couplet of the ghazal is the fifth. One must not be deceived by the string of the ascetic's rosary; if God cuts off his daily bread one day, he says the “lâ” (there is no god) of the profession of faith and passes over the “illâ” (but God). With this double-edged expression the poet implies that the ascetic's piety depends on his livelihood, and that he would leave the half that affirms God and stay with the negation alone.

Bibliography

Online sources