Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün

Raḥm(ı) ḳıldıñ sen baña ḥâlimce etdiñ behre-mend
Eylediñ ġamdan ḫalâṣım ḳıldıñ âhir şâd-mend
Bî-nihâyet raḥm edip sen ben gedâ bî-çâreñe
Öyle memnûn eylediñ ‘âlemde ḳıldıñ sâye-mend
Dest-i lüṭfuñla beni mesrûr buyurduñ âferîn
Tâ ki ḳıldıñ maẓhar-ı feyż-i ṭarîḳ-i Naḳşibend
Yoḳ seniñ mis̱liñde baḫş-ende kerem ehl-i kerem
Bulmaḳ olmaz sen gibi baḫ-şende ra‘nâ dil-pesend
Ḳoy beni nâṣıḥ yaman sözlerden ikrâhım füzûn
İstemem şimdeñ-geru kâr eylemez biñ nuṣḥ u pend
Terk-i yâr etmek saña mümkün degil Mir’ât-nümâ
Ḳurtuluş yoḳ yârdan boynuñdadır muḥkem kemend

In English

1. You took pity on me and gave me a share according to my state; you freed me from sorrow and made me glad at last.

2. Showing boundless mercy to me, a wretched beggar, you made me so content that you sheltered me in the world.

3. With the hand of your kindness you made me happy, bravo, until you made me the locus of the grace of the Naqshbandi path.

4. There is no one of generosity who bestows generosity like you; none so bountiful, graceful and pleasing to the heart as you can be found.

5. O adviser, leave me; my loathing of evil words is great; from now on I want none, a thousand counsels will not avail.

6. Mir'ât-nümâ, it is impossible for you to leave the beloved; there is no escape from the beloved, there is a strong noose around your neck.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Gratitude and Devotion

The ghazal has no refrain; the weight of the rhyme rests on compounds built with the Persian suffix “-mend”: behre-mend, şâd-mend, sâye-mend, Naḳşibend, dil-pesend, pend, kemend. The metre is remel, four feet to the line. The address of the poem is ambiguous: the “you” spoken to may be God or the sheikh; since the third couplet says that through his kindness the poet became the locus of the grace of the “ṭarîḳ-i Naḳşibend”, it can also be read as thanks directed to the master.

The first four couplets are a count of thanks: the poet, given a share according to his state, freed from sorrow and sheltered, has attained the grace of the Naqshbandi path. In the fifth couplet the tone changes, and a “nâṣıḥ”, an adviser, is addressed: the poet says he loathes evil words and that now even a thousand counsels will not avail. In this couplet the adviser who tries to turn the lover from the beloved in divan poetry corresponds to the one who tries to turn the poet from the path.

The “muḥkem kemend”, the strong noose around the neck, of the pen-name couplet recalls the image of the “bend-i âhın”, the iron bond, in the book's couplet on rabıta. Here the noose is not captivity but the symbol of an unbreakable devotion.

Bibliography

Online sources