Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: given in the edition as “Feûlün Feûlün Feûlün Feûlün” (mütekârib); most lines are closer to the pattern “Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün Fe‘ûlün”

Delîl oldu fenâ fi’llâha ehlu’llâh
Bilindi ḥikmet-i esrâr ẕâtu’llâh
Veliyu’llâh olup miftâḥ-ı bâbu’llâh
Açıldı perde ẓâhir oldu nûru’llâh
Hemân maṭlûb-ı ‘azîz envâr vechu’llâh
Ḫudâ’dan ġayri yoḳ maksûd-ı cemâlu’llâh
Muḥâl bulmaḳ bu yolda ḫod-be-ḫod envâr
Seni ta‘mîr ede evvelce bir mi‘mâr
Gerek mürşid idip pes vâḳıfu’l-esrâr
Ki terḳīb eyleye dîdârına Ġaffâr
Hemân maṭlûb-ı ‘azîz-i envâr vechu’llâh
Ḫudâ’dan ġayrı yoḳ maksûd cemâlu’llâh
‘Ubûdiyyet maḥall-i imtiḥân dünyâ
Hünerdir bunda etmek kendini kimyâ
‘Ubûdiyyet için ḫalḳ eyledi Mevlâ
Değil maṭlûb ‘azîz bu ṣûret-i eşyâ
Hemân maṭlûb ‘azîz-i envâr-ı vechu’llâh
Ḫudâ’dan ġayri yoḳ makṣûd cemâlu’llâh
Bu dünyâ bir ḫayâldir ‘âḳıbet zâ’il
Buña mâ’il olur mu olsa ger ‘âḳil
Degil ‘aşḳ ehli Ḥaḳ’dan ġayriye sâ’il
Ġarâż-ı dîdâr degildir cennete ḳā’il
Hemân maṭlûb ‘azîz envâr-ı vechu’llâh
Ḫudâ’dan ġayri yoḳ maḳṣûd cemâlu’llâh
Bu dünyâda ne vardır raġbete şâyân
Baḳarsıñ ortada bir ‘arṣa-i vîrân
Gelen gitmek de var mı bir gelen insân
Nihâyetde peşîmân olsa ger sultân
Hemân maṭlûb ‘azîz envâr-ı vechu’llâh
Ḫudâdan ġayrı yoḳ maḳṣûd cemâlu’llâh

In English

1. The people of God became the guide to annihilation in God; through them the wisdom of the secrets of God's essence was known.

2. The saint became the key to God's door; the veil was lifted and the light of God appeared.

3. What is truly sought, my dear, is the lights of the face of God; there is no aim but God, the aim is the beauty of God.

4. On this road it is impossible to find the lights by oneself; first an architect must rebuild you.

5. A master versed in the secrets is needed, to make you long to behold the All-Forgiving.

6. What is truly sought, my dear, is the lights of the face of God; there is no aim but God, the aim is the beauty of God.

7. The world is a place of testing for servanthood; the art here is to turn oneself into alchemy's gold.

8. The Lord created people for servanthood; this outward form of things, my dear, is not what is sought.

9. What is truly sought, my dear, is the lights of the face of God; there is no aim but God, the aim is the beauty of God.

10. This world is a dream that passes away in the end; would one who is wise incline towards it?

11. The people of love ask for nothing other than God; their aim is the beholding, not contentment with paradise.

12. What is truly sought, my dear, is the lights of the face of God; there is no aim but God, the aim is the beauty of God.

13. What is there in this world worthy of desire? You see in its midst a ruined field.

14. Is there anyone who came and did not go, any man who came? Even a sultan regrets it in the end.

15. What is truly sought, my dear, is the lights of the face of God; there is no aim but God, the aim is the beauty of God.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Strophic Poem with a Refrain

The book's only strophic poem is headed in the edition “Müseddes-Murabba‘”. The edition numbers it as fifteen couplets, but the structure is clear: four stanzas of two couplets each, with the same couplet repeated as a refrain after each stanza: “Hemân maṭlûb-ı ‘azîz envâr-ı vechu’llâh / Ḫudâ’dan ġayri yoḳ maḳṣûd cemâlu’llâh”, what is truly sought is the lights of the face of God; there is no aim but God, the aim is the beauty of God. The refrain begins with the third couplet of the first stanza and appears five times. Şensöz describes this poem as a müseddes-murabba written in a rarely used pattern of the mütekârib; most lines, however, fall closer to the shortened hezec pattern “Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün Fe‘ûlün”.

The whole force of the poem lies in the repetition of the refrain. Each stanza reaches the same conclusion by a different road: the first says the saint is the key to God's door, the second that the lights can be found only at the hand of a master, the third that the world is a place of testing for servanthood, the fourth that the world is a dream and a ruined field. All return to the words “the aim is the beauty of God”. The image of the “mi‘mâr”, the architect, in the fourth couplet describes the master who rebuilds the disciple from the ground up; the “kimyâ” of the seventh couplet recalls the alchemy that turns the self into gold.

The eleventh couplet places just before the refrain an idea met again and again in the book: the aim of the people of love is the beholding, not paradise. A structure so repetitive hints that the poem may have been built for recitation together in gatherings of remembrance.

Bibliography

Online sources