Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün

Ḥasret-i dil-dâr ile ḫūndur ciger ḳan aġlarız
Kimse bilmez yaremizden zaḫm-ı pinhân aġlarız
Geceler feryâd u efġān eylemek mu‘tâdımız
Ḳılmadı dermân bize ol şâh-ı ḫūbân aġlarız
Ger bizi bezminde maḥrem etmese ol pâdişâh
Tâ ḳıyâmet ḥaşre dek kûyında nâlân aġlarız
Yâr-ı vaṣl eylerdi amma ḳoymadı reşk-i ḥasûd
Anıñ için baġrımız yanmaḳda giryân aġlarız
Sîne-’i sûzânımız zâhid görüp ‘ayb etmeñiz
Bunca yıldır yanmışız ‘aşḳ içre sûzân aġlarız
Baş açıḳ yalın ayaḳ Mir’ât-nümâ aġlar meded
Biz gedâyız şâhımız bâbında iḥsân aġlarız

In English

1. With longing for the heart-ravisher our liver has turned to blood, we weep blood; no one knows our wound, we weep for a hidden wound.

2. Crying out and lamenting at night is our habit; that king of the fair has given us no cure, we weep.

3. If that sovereign does not admit us to his assembly, we will weep moaning in his street until the resurrection, the gathering.

4. The beloved promised union, but the jealousy of the envious did not allow it; for this our breast is burning, we weep in tears.

5. O ascetics, do not reproach us on seeing our burning breast; we have burned in love for so many years, we weep burning.

6. Bareheaded and barefoot Mir'ât-nümâ weeps crying “help”; we are beggars, we weep at our king's door, hoping for his bounty.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Refrain “Aġlarız”

“Aġlarız”, we weep: every couplet of the ghazal closes on this plural verb. Set within the prose section describing the states of contemplation, the six couplets are written in the metre “Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün”, with the refrain “-ân aġlarız”: ḳan aġlarız, pinhân aġlarız, ḫūbân aġlarız, nâlân aġlarız, giryân aġlarız, sûzân aġlarız, iḥsân aġlarız. The first person plural makes the poem the shared grief not of a single lover but of a community, the disciples.

The language of the ghazal is from beginning to end the language of longing of divan poetry: a liver turned to blood, a hidden wound, the night's cry, the jealous rival, the burning breast. Yet its placement in the middle of the prose account of the contemplations shows that this longing carries a Sufi meaning: the “şâh-ı ḫūbân”, king of the fair, and the “pâdişâh”, sovereign, may be God or the master; the disciple waits to be admitted to his “bezm”, his assembly.

In the fifth couplet the ascetic whom the book often addresses appears again: the poet asks that the breast that has burned with love for so many years not be reproached. Şensöz picks this pen-name couplet to show how the pen name is used in the work: “Baş açıḳ yalın ayaḳ Mir'ât-nümâ aġlar meded”, bareheaded and barefoot Mir'ât-nümâ weeps crying help. Bareheaded and barefoot is a familiar image of the dervish stripped of everything and of his supplication.

Bibliography

Online sources