Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün

Rif’at istersen eger mihr-i cihân-ârâ gibi
Sür yüzün her gün yire eyle tenezzül mâ gibi
Hûş kabâ’ilden degül bâkî bu nakş-ı rûzgâr
Fi’l-mesel dünyâ misâl-i ‘âlem-i rûyâ gibi
Sûzen-i müjgânlarundan geçmedi dil-riştesi
Yolda kaldum ey Mesîhâ Hazret-i ‘Îsâ gibi
Pehlüvân-ı ‘âlem olmış kalb-i istignâ ile
Tôb-ı çarhı dehr elinde oynadur elma gibi
Katreden kemdür vücûdun Muhlisî ammâ ‘aceb
Nazm idüp dürler döker tab’un senün deryâ gibi

In English

1. If you want loftiness like the world-adorning sun, rub your face on the ground every day and descend like water (the sun comes down to the earth with its light each day and water always flows downward; loftiness is won through humility).

2. Because the first two words of the line are read differently in the editions ("Hûş kabâ’ilden" and "Hoş kabâ’ildür"), its exact meaning is uncertain; the clear part is this: this pattern of the times does not endure; the world is, so to speak, like a realm of dreams.

3. The thread of my heart could not pass through the needle of your eyelashes; O Messiah (the beloved who gives life with his breath), I was left on the road like Jesus (according to legend, Jesus, as he ascended to heaven, remained in the fourth sphere because of a needle left on him).

4. The couplet can be read in two ways: one who has become the champion of the world through a heart free of need (istiğna) plays the ball of the heavens like an apple in the hand of time; or: time (dehr), with its heart that cares for no one, has become the champion of the world and plays the ball of the heavens in its hand like an apple.

5. O Muhlisî, your being is less than a drop, yet, wondrously, when your nature composes verse it pours out pearls like the sea.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a ghazal (gazel) of five couplets; Kınalızâde and the Kâfile-i Şuarâ give five couplets, and it is not known whether this is the whole ghazal or a selection. The redif (refrain word) is "gibi" (like), and the rhyme is the sound "-â" in the words "cihân-ârâ, mâ, rûyâ, ‘Îsâ, elma, deryâ". The sources do not state the metre; the couplets fit the "fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün" pattern of the remel family of aruz (quantitative metre), and this identification is our own. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. The text is given in the form found in Kınalızâde's biographical anthology of poets (tezkire). Beyânî takes only the first, third and fifth couplets of the same ghazal. In the text quoted from Mehmed Tevfik's Kâfile-i Şuarâ, the second couplet begins "Hoş kabâ’ildür degül", the words of the fourth couplet appear as "Pehlevân" and "Top-ı", and in the closing couplet the prince's name, "Mustafâ", stands in place of the pen name. The prince is known to have used his own name in some ghazals and the pen name Muhlisî in others. It is not known to whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet is a counsel of humility built on the antithesis between "rif’at" (loftiness) and "tenezzül" (descending). Naming the sun and water together creates a congruence of images (tenasüp): the one lays its light on the ground every morning, the other always flows downward, and both give life to the world through this descent. The second couplet develops the idea of transience by likening the world to a dream. In the third couplet the needle (sûzen) and the thread (rişte) form a congruence of images, and there is an allusion to the legend that Jesus, as he ascended to heaven, remained in the fourth heaven because of a needle he had forgotten on him. In divan poetry the breath of Jesus that raised the dead is used for the beloved's lips and words; the poet's addressing the beloved as "Mesîhâ" (Messiah) rests on this image. Because the lover cannot pass the thread of his heart through the needle of the beloved's eyelashes, he resembles Jesus, left on the road because of his needle. In the fourth couplet the heavens are likened to a ball, and the ball to an apple. In the closing couplet the contrast between the drop (katre) and the sea (derya) combines with the congruence of pearl (dür) and sea: the nature of a poet whose being is less than a drop pours out pearls like the sea when it composes verse. The poet's praise of his own words in the closing couplet is a common attitude in divan poetry.

Historical Context

Kınalızâde gives the ghazal in the opening section of his tezkire devoted to sultans and princes, at the end of the prince's entry, with the words "Bu eş’âr ol şehr-yârundur" (these verses are that prince's). According to him the prince felt an affinity for poets and men of learning, and because he was in constant conversation with his teacher Sürûrî Efendi he had "gerçekden kudret ü mikneti" (true power and skill) in this art. Beyânî likewise writes that he was in continual conversation with men of learning and so acquired skill in composing verse. Halûk İpekten, for his part, notes that the sources did not think highly of the prince's poems. The prince's life, his other poem and his circle of poets in Amasya are described in the article Şehzade Mustafa (Muhlisî): His Poems and the Poets of His Amasya Circle.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Books

  • Şerife Ördek, "Muhlisî, Şehzâde Mustafâ b. Kânûnî Sultân Süleymân", Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü, 2014 (updated 2020), "Eserlerinden Örnekler" (quoted from Mehmed Tevfik, Kâfile-i Şuarâ, ed. Fatma Sabiha Kutlar, Müjgân Çakır, Hanife Koncu, Istanbul 2012, pp. 62-63). https://teis.yesevi.edu.tr/madde-detay/muhlisi-sehzade-mustafa-kanuni

Online sources