Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef’ûlü Fâ’ilâtü Mefâ’îlü Fâ’ilün

Stanza I

İy dil bu ittisâl nedür mâsivâ ile
Kat’-ı ta’alluk it yüri mıkrâz-ı lâ ile
‘Ankâ-yı Kâf-ı kudret olanlar zebûn iken
Kim başa vara heft-ser-i ejdehâ ile
Dâyim kazâ vücûdumuzı hâr u hes misâl
İltür ‘adem diyârına seyl-i fenâ ile
Rûhun beden ki ‘âriyetî bir libâsıdur
‘Âkıl gurûr ider mi bu köhne kabâ ile
Şeb kara geydi çözdi saçın ebr-i tîre-reng
Şemle sarındı şems-i cihân gökde a(y) ile
Âhum menâr-ı çarha çıkup eyledi nidâ
Kaldurmaga cenâze-i şâhı salâ ile
Ol Mehdi-i zamâna varup yâr-ı gâr olup
Gitdi cinâna zümre-i Âl-i ‘Abâ ile
Oldı şehîd Hazret-i Sultân Mustafa
Yâr oldı ana şâh-ı şehîdân-ı Kerbelâ

Stanza II

Cellâd-ı dehr kâtil-i halk-ı cihân imiş
Hûn-ı şafakla dâmeni toptolu kan imiş
Mirrîh-vâr hançer-i zerrîn ile hilâl
Bir baş kesici kan dökici cân-sitân imiş
‘İbretle kıl nazar ki kamu halk-ı kâ‘inât
Derbend içinde gice kalan kârbân imiş
Şâd olma vasla âhiri hicrân imiş anun
Evvel bahârun âhiri âhir hazân imiş
Bir nokta ile zillet imiş devlet-i cihân
Sultânlıgun nihâyeti ‘âlemde ân imiş
Bu dehr-i dûn didükleri mekkâre pür-füsûn
Bir zulmı çok mürüvveti yok bî-emân imiş
‘İşret-fezâ-yı gülşeninün sûretâ cihân
Ma’nîde hâr ile tolu gülsitân imiş
Olmasa şâdlık n’ola ger gam zamânıdur
Gök geyse âsmân n’ola mâtem zamânıdur

Stanza III

Fânî olup zamânede bu hayl u bu haşem
İrdi bekâya ol şeh-i bî-tabl u bî-’alem
Şeb tîg-i âftâb ile gîsûsın itdi kat‘
Mâhun ihâta itdi cemâlin gamâm-ı gam
Bu katre katre sübha-i mercân-durur yaşum
Geçürmege mezârınun üstinde dem-be-dem
Tâbûtı üzre düşse n’ola dûd-ı âhlar
Olur siyâh Ka’benün örtüsi lâ-cerem
‘İbret-nümâ-yı âyine-i mihr-i hâverî
Göstermedi anun gibi bir zât-ı muhterem
Şîr-i ecel kemîn-i kazâdan çıkup hemân
Ser-pençesiyle kıldı vücûdın o dem ‘adem
Tâvûs-ı bûstân-ı risâletle yâr olup
Mirkât-ı himmeti kodı ‘arş üstine kadem
Gencîne-i sa‘âdet iken cismi cân ile
Hatm itdilerse n’ola anı rîsmân ile

Stanza IV

Yâd eyleyince ‘işretini acıdı şarâb
Gözden çıkınca agladı kan dîde-i habâb
Zerrîn tabakla gün gibi îsâr iderdi sîm
Meh sâgarını tolu içerken ol âftâb
İfgâr kıldı cismini nây eyleyüp enîn
Yoldı saçını nâle kılup çeng ile rebâb
Ser-tâ-kadem olursa n’ola ger kebûd-pûş
Gökden götürdi kendüyi atdı o dem sehâb
Zikr eyleyüp anun cereyân-ı kelâmını
Dögdi başını taşlara çok nâle kıldı âb
Zencîr-i zer asarsa n’ola tâkına güneş
Kandîl oldı türbesi üstinde mâhtâb
Ol âftâbı koynına koydukda zîr-i hâk
Kerrûbiyân didi ki yâ leytenî türâb
Kand-i lebinde gerd-i fenâdan bulup eser
İp takdı gerdenine bogıldı o dem şeker

Stanza V

Yâ Rab cinânda ol şehi ‘âlî-makâm kıl
Kâşânesini ravza-i Darü’s-selâm kıl
Havrâyı ana cümle karavaş eyleyüp
Gılmân-ı bâg-ı cenneti ana gulâm kıl
Seyr eyledükçe gülşen-i ‘adni Burâk ile
Ser-keşlik itse vahşî gibi ana râm kıl
Gılmân-ı ‘adn ile idicek ‘ayş u ‘işreti
Bu bezm içinde mihr ü mehi iki câm kıl
Kim kıldı ise hazret-i şehden anı cüdâ
Yâ Rabbi anı iki cihânda cüzâm kıl
Ol yirde yatdugınca anun şâh-zâdesin
Evreng-i saltanatda ebed müstedâm kıl
El götürüp senâsına şâhun çenâr-vâr
Rahmî du’â-yı devletini ihtitâm kıl
Bâd-ı fenâ ham itmeye ol serv dalını
Ser-sebz ü hurrem eyleye kaddi nihâlini

In English

Stanza I

1. O heart, what is this attachment to things other than God; cut off your ties with the scissors of "lâ" (the "there is no god" that negates all but God) and go on.

2. While even those who are the Anka of the Qaf mountain of divine power are helpless, who can cope with the seven-headed dragon?

3. Destiny always carries our being, like chaff and straw, to the land of non-existence on the flood of mortality.

4. The body is a garment lent to the soul; does a wise man pride himself on this worn-out robe?

5. Night put on black, the dark cloud loosened its hair; the sun of the world wrapped itself in a shroud in the sky together with the moon.

6. My sigh climbed the minaret of the wheel of heaven and gave the call to raise the shah's bier.

7. He went to the Mahdi of the age and became his companion of the cave, and went to paradise with the company of the People of the Cloak (the Prophet's household).

8. His Highness Sultan Mustafa became a martyr; the shah of the martyrs of Karbala (Hüseyin) became his companion.

Stanza II

9. The executioner of time, it seems, is the murderer of the world's people; its skirt is soaked through with the blood of the dawn.

10. The new moon, it seems, is like Mars with its golden dagger, a beheader, a shedder of blood, a taker of lives.

11. Look with understanding: all the people of creation, it seems, are a caravan benighted in a narrow pass.

12. Do not rejoice in union, for its end is separation; the end of spring is the last of autumn.

13. The fortune of the world, it seems, is but a dot away from abasement; the end of sovereignty in the world is a single moment.

14. This base world, as they call it, is a deceitful woman full of spells; much cruelty, no generosity, merciless.

15. In appearance the world is a rose garden where revelry abounds; in meaning it is a rose garden full of thorns.

16. What if there is no joy, it is a time of grief; what if the sky wears blue (the colour of mourning), it is a time of mourning.

Stanza III

17. While these horsemen and this pomp pass away in the world, that shah without drum or banner has reached permanence.

18. Night cut off its hair with the sword of the sun; the cloud of grief has enveloped the beauty of the moon.

19. These tears of mine, falling drop by drop, are a coral rosary to tell over his grave every moment.

20. What if the smoke of sighs falls upon his coffin; the covering of the Kaaba is, of course, black.

21. The mirror of the eastern sun, which shows lessons, has never shown so honoured a person as he.

22. The lion of death came out of the ambush of destiny and at that very moment annihilated his being with its claw.

23. Becoming the friend of the peacock of the garden of prophethood (Muhammad), he set his foot upon the Throne of God by the ladder of his aspiration.

24. Since his body, together with his soul, was a treasury of happiness, what if they sealed it with a cord (a treasury is closed with a corded seal; the prince was strangled with a cord).

Stanza IV

25. Remembering his revelry, the wine turned bitter; when he passed from sight, the eye of the bubble wept blood.

26. That sun, as he drank the cup of the moon to the brim, scattered silver like the day from a golden tray.

27. The reed flute wounded its body with moaning; the harp and the rebab moaned and tore their hair.

28. What if the cloud dresses in dark blue from head to foot; at that moment it threw itself down from the heavens.

29. The water, remembering the flow of his speech, beat its head on the stones and moaned greatly.

30. What if the sun hangs a golden chain at his tomb; the moonlight has become a lamp above his tomb.

31. When they laid that sun beneath the earth, the Cherubim (the angels nearest to God) said, "Would that I were dust".

32. Finding a trace of the dust of mortality in the sugar of his lip, the sugar at that moment put a cord around its neck and strangled itself.

Stanza V

33. O Lord, give that shah a lofty station in paradise; make his mansion the garden of the Abode of Peace.

34. Make all the houris his handmaidens and the youths of the garden of paradise his servants.

35. As he rides through the rose garden of Eden on Burak, should Burak be unruly like a wild beast, make it docile to him.

36. As he takes his pleasure and revelry with the youths of Eden, make the sun and the moon two cups for him in this feast.

37. Whoever parted him from His Majesty (the sultan), O Lord, strike him with leprosy in both worlds.

38. As long as he lies in that earth, make his (the sultan's) prince everlasting on the throne of sovereignty (whom the couplet means is not clear).

39. Rahmî, raise your hands like the plane tree and end your words with praise of the shah and prayer for his fortune.

40. May the wind of mortality not bend the branch of that cypress; may (God) keep the sapling of his stature green and joyful.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a terkib-i bend of five stanzas in the "mef’ûlü fâ’ilâtü mefâ’îlü fâ’ilün" pattern of aruz (quantitative metre). Each stanza consists of a section (hane) of seven couplets followed by a separately rhymed linking couplet (vasıta beyti); the poem thus has forty couplets. In the sections all the lines end in the same sound: the redif (refrain word) "ile" runs through the first stanza, "imiş" the second, "-em" the third, "-âb" the fourth and "kıl" the fifth. The linking couplets are like verdicts: "Oldı şehîd Hazret-i Sultân Mustafa", "Gök geyse âsmân n'ola mâtem zamânıdur", "Hatm itdilerse n'ola anı rîsmân ile". The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last stanza in the line "Rahmî du‘â-yı devletini ihtitâm kıl".

The elegy is in Rahmî's divan, on folios 175-176 of manuscript Nuruosmaniye 4962 in the Süleymaniye Library, and is also found in the edition of the divan published by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The text in Recep Hasar's thesis is followed here; in two places Hasar gives the manuscript reading in a footnote: "nesim" in the third stanza, and "tablile" in place of "tabakla" in the fourth. The folios immediately before it in the same manuscript contain Fünûnî's elegy for Prince Mustafa.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The elegy follows the classic sections of the genre in an orderly way. The first couplets of the first stanza speak of the transience of the world: the heart should not attach itself to anything but God, and the body is an old robe lent to the soul. The "mıkrâz-ı lâ" (scissors of "lâ") in the first couplet is an image based on the shape of the word "lâ" written in Arabic script, which resembles open scissors, and it recalls the "lâ ilâhe" (there is no god) of the declaration of faith. At the end of the stanza the sigh climbs the minaret of the wheel of heaven to call the prayer, and the prince joins the martyrs. In the linking couplet the prince becomes the companion of Hüseyin, the shah of the martyrs of Karbala, an image Hasar also finds in Selîmî and Kâdirî.

The second stanza defines the true face of the world with the redif "imiş" (it seems): time is an executioner, the new moon a beheader with a golden dagger, people a caravan benighted in a narrow pass, and the world a deceitful and merciless woman. The line "Bir nokta ile zillet imiş devlet-i cihân" in the fifth couplet is a play on words based on the closeness of the words devlet (fortune) and zillet (abasement) when written in Arabic script. The third stanza carries the most moving images of the poem. The tears are likened to a coral rosary told at the graveside, and the smoke of sighs falling on the coffin to the black covering of the Kaaba. The couplet closing the stanza, "Gencîne-i sa‘âdet iken cismi cân ile / Hatm itdilerse n'ola anı rîsmân ile", starting from the custom of tying treasure chests with cord and sealing them, tells in veiled form of the prince's strangling with a cord.

In the fourth stanza the feast goes into mourning: the wine turns bitter, the reed flute and the rebab moan, the cloud throws itself down from the sky, the water beats its head on the stones. The Cherubim saying "yâ leytenî türâb" (would that I were dust) is an allusion to a verse of the Quran. The linking couplet of the stanza is an example of fanciful aetiology (hüsn-i ta‘lîl): the sugar, seeing the dust of mortality on the prince's lip, put a cord around its neck and strangled itself; the manner of the prince's death is this time placed inside a sweet image. The fifth stanza is the section of prayer. The poet asks a lofty station in paradise for the prince, asks leprosy in both worlds for whoever parted him from the sultan, and then binds his words to the sultan with a prayer.

Historical Context

According to Semra Güler, Rahmî expressed only his sorrow in his elegy and avoided expressions that would get him into trouble. Indeed, the accusation in the poem is nameless, and the last couplets end with a prayer wishing the sultan long life. Rahmî was at this time a poet hoping for patronage from Süleyman's circle; according to the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi he constantly repeated his wish for an appointment in his qasidas, but was appointed a teacher (müderris) only towards the end of his life through a qasida he presented to Prince Selim. The measured attitude of the elegy may be considered together with this situation; this interpretation is our own. The poet's life is described in the biographical article in this category, and the other elegies in our article Elegies for Prince Mustafa.

Bibliography

Academic studies

Online sources