Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün

Tîġ-ı müjgânıñ oḳundan zaḥmetim var sînede
Çâk-i baġrımda devâsız ‘illetim var sînede
Artmada dilde teḥassur âteşi endûh u gam
‘Âleme ta‘rîfi müşkil ḥasretim var sînede
Gezmege yoḳdur mecâlim ġayre amma neyleyim
Ḫalḳ içinde ‘âr u ġayret ḳuvvetim var sînede
Hep de iẓhâr-ı kemâl etmekdesiñ nâṣıḥ baña
Öyle nâ-ḥaḳ sözleriñden nefretim var sînede
Bir diyârda iki ḥükm-i padişâh olmaz aḫî
Çün ‘azîzim pâdişâh-ı ‘İṣmetim var sînede
Baḳma ṣûretde beni seyret de gör Mir’ât-nümâ
Bende’i bir pâdişâhım devletlim var sînede

In English

1. From the sword and arrow of your lashes I have a wound in my breast; in my torn heart I have an illness without cure.

2. In the heart the fire of longing, grief and sorrow grow; in my breast I have a longing hard to describe to the world.

3. I have no strength to wander towards another, but what can I do? Among the people I have in my breast the strength of honour and zeal.

4. O adviser, you keep showing me your perfection; in my breast I have loathing for such unjust words of yours.

5. Brother, there cannot be the rule of two kings in one land; for, my dear, in my breast I have my king İsmet.

6. Mir'ât-nümâ, do not look at my form, behold and see: I am a king's servant, in my breast I have my fortune.

Literary and Historical Commentary

One King in the Heart

Within the four-foot remel each couplet names something carried in the breast and ties it to the refrain “var sînede”, I have in my breast: a wound, an illness, longing, zeal, loathing, a king and a fortune. The rhyme words, “zaḥmet, ‘illet, ḥasret, ḳuvvet, nefret, ‘İṣmet, devlet”, meet in the sound “-et” and reach the sheikh's name in the fifth couplet.

The first two couplets use the familiar love-pain of divan poetry: the wound opened by the sword and arrow of the lashes, an illness without cure, a longing that cannot be told. In the fourth couplet the “nâṣıḥ”, the adviser seen in several of the book's ghazals, appears again; the poet says he loathes his “nâ-ḥaḳ”, unjust, words.

The key to the ghazal is the fifth couplet: “Bir diyârda iki ḥükm-i pâdişâh olmaz aḫî / Çün ‘azîzim pâdişâh-ı ‘İṣmetim var sînede”, brother, there cannot be two kings' rule in one land, for, my dear, I have my king İsmet in my breast. The proverb that there are no two kings in one country is used to say that in the disciple's heart there is room for only one sheikh. This is the poetic counterpart of the book's position, which accepts a change of master only on grounds of the law. The final couplet tells those who look from outside not to be deceived by appearance: whoever is a king's servant carries a fortune in his breast.

Bibliography

Online sources