Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün
Dil-i dīvāne didi āfet-i cāndur dil-ber
Didigi oldı muḥaḳḳaḳ deliden uslı ḫaber
In English
1. The mad heart said, "The beloved is the calamity of the soul"; what it said proved true: sane news from a madman.
Literary and Historical Commentary
The couplet's last words are a proverb. Sayings such as "sound news from a madman" or "hear the truth from a madman" tell that one who is out of his mind may sometimes say the truest thing. In divan poetry the lover's heart is often called "dîvâne", mad; Sâhib brings this familiar epithet together with the proverb. The mad heart has said that the beloved is the calamity of the soul, and the words have come true; so, mad as it may be, the heart's news is sane news.
The humour of the couplet lies in the lover's attitude towards his own heart. On the one hand the poet counts his heart mad, on the other he confirms its words. The likeness of sound between "dil-i dîvâne" (the mad heart) and "dil-ber" (the heart-stealer) adds an echo to the couplet as well: both begin with "dil", one complains and the other is the cause of the complaint. The proverb couplet occurs neither in the Ali Emîrî copy nor in T. 1710/6; it is read from T. 738.
Bibliography
- Meral Topal, Pîrî-zâde Mehmed Sâhib Hayatı, Edebî Kişiliği, Eserleri ve Divanı'nın Tenkitli Metni, MA thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2004, p. 226, matla 12 (Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 4a). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014
Online sources
