Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün

Ben ki ehl-i ‘aşḳım ey dil raġbet etmem câha ben
Faḳr-ile bir pâdişâhım minnet etmem şâha ben
Ġayre ‘arż et istemem senden serîr-i salṭanat
Pes baña kim râżıyım bâb-ı ḳanâ‘at-gâha ben
İḫtiyâr etdim bu faḳir ḥâli ben şimden-geri
Şâh-ı Edhem gibi baş ḳoydum der-i dergâha ben
Cezbe-i seyr ü sülûk ‘İṣmet’de itmâm eyledim
İḥtiyâcım yoḳ ṭarîḳat ṣormaġa hem-râha ben
Terk-i ‘aşḳ etmek ne mümkün iḫtiyârım elde yoḳ
Ma’ilim bir çehre-i ḫûrşîd-i peyker mâha ben
Vaṣl-ı yâr oldu müyesser ḫalvet oldu dost ile
Bulmuşum feyż-i beḳā döndükde Beytu’llâh’a ben
Bulmadım Mir’ât-nümâ ‘âlemde bir ‘âẓam refîḳ
Anıñ için yüz çevirdim cümleden Allâh’a ben

In English

1. O heart, I am of the people of love; I do not long for rank; through poverty I am a king, I am beholden to no king.

2. Offer it to another; I do not want from you the throne of sovereignty; I am content with the station of the door of contentment.

3. From now on I have chosen this poor state; like Shah Edhem I have laid my head at the threshold's door.

4. I completed the rapture of the spiritual journey with İsmet (my master Mustafa İsmet); I have no need to ask a companion about the path.

5. How could I give up love? My will is not in my hands; I am drawn to a sun-faced moon.

6. Union with the beloved has been granted, I have been in retreat with the friend; when I turned to the House of God I found the grace of abiding.

7. Mir'ât-nümâ, I found no great companion in the world; for this I turned my face from all and towards God.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Ghazal That Names His Master

Among the book's ghazals this is one that gives the clearest information about the poet's own life. Its seven couplets use the remel pattern the book's ghazals turn to most, with the refrain “-a ben”, I to: câha ben, şâha ben, ḳanâ‘at-gâha ben, dergâha ben, hem-râha ben, mâha ben, Beytu'llâh'a ben, Allâh'a ben.

Şensöz identifies the poet's master from the fourth couplet: “Cezbe-i seyr ü sülûk ‘İṣmet'de itmâm eyledim / İḥtiyâcım yoḳ ṭarîḳat ṣormaġa hem-râha ben”, I completed the rapture of the spiritual journey with İsmet; I have no need to ask a companion about the path. The poet says that he completed his journey with Mustafa İsmet Efendi; Hüsameddin too records that he stayed twelve years in this sheikh's lodge in Istanbul. The second line of the couplet carries the self-confidence of a deputy who no longer needs to ask anyone the way.

In the third couplet the example of İbrâhim b. Edhem appears again: like the ruler who left the throne of Balkh, the poet has laid his head at the door of the lodge. The phrase “Beytu'llâh'a döndükde”, when I turned to the House of God, in the sixth couplet may describe turning towards the Kaaba or going on pilgrimage; since Hüsameddin does not write that the sheikh made the pilgrimage, it is also possible to read this couplet as a figurative turning. The ghazal closes in solitude: in the pen-name couplet the poet, finding no great companion in the world, turns his face from all towards God.

Bibliography

Online sources