Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün

Dâr-ı miḥnetde ferâḥ-yâb olması aġreb ‘acîb
Fısḳ ile firdevse nâ’il olması aġreb ‘acîb

In English

1. To find relief in the abode of affliction (this world) is the strangest, most wondrous thing; to attain paradise through sin is the strangest, most wondrous thing.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is recorded in the cönk as a ghazal (gazel). The ghazal is the aruz verse form whose opening couplet (matla) rhymes within itself and whose other couplets are tied to that rhyme; folk poets also used this form. Because Hakverdioğlu's article publishes only the first verse unit of each poem in the cönk, we know only the opening couplet of this poem. The refrain is "olması ağreb acîb"; the rhyme in "ferah-yâb / nâ'il" is weak. The identification of the metre is ours; as is usual in the aruz poems of folk poets, some syllables may not fit the pattern exactly. To whom and on what occasion the poem was composed is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The couplet places two impossibilities side by side. The first is the view of the world as "dâr-ı mihnet", the abode of affliction; in this abode one cannot expect to find relief. The second is attaining "firdevs", paradise, through "fısk", sin and depravity. The poet describes both as "ağreb" (strangest) and "acîb" (wondrous). The subject of the couplet is not stated: the word "olması" (its being) suggests a person in general or the one addressed. The couplet thus becomes an admonition saying that it is vain for one who clings to the world and sins to expect ease in this world or the next.

Historical Context

The poem is recorded under the pen name "Nazîf" in the Merzifon Cönkü introduced by Metin Hakverdioğlu in 2019. The cönk contains ten of Nazîf's poems, one in syllabic metre and nine in aruz; the aruz poems are all ghazals, and most carry religious and moral admonition. The article gives no information about the poet; the poet's identity and the century in which he lived have not been determined. Since the cönk is thought to have been compiled in Merzifon within the literary circle of Eyüb Sabrî, the poet may have been one read or living in that circle. For details, see the page on Nazîf. The poem is on page 67 of the cönk and page 550 of the article; its full text is in the cönk itself and has not been published to date.

Bibliography

Online sources