Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâîlün mefâîlün mefâîlün mefâîlün (metre identified by us)

Stanza I

Gurûr etme tekebbürden berî ol anla insânı
Hakâretle nazar kılma görüp mûr-ı Süleymanı
Bu dünyânın bekâsı yok bilirsin âkibet fânî
Tutalım kim serâser oldun idi âlemin hânı
Kanı Dârâ vü İskender kanı Fağfûr-ı Hâkânî
Kem etdi Zâl-ı dünyâ Rüstem ü Sâm ü Nerimânı
Savurdu yele verdi nice evreng-i Süleymanı
Sakın tığ-ı ecelden hâli sanma sen bu meydânı
Kanı Dahhâk ü Cem Nûşirevân ü Ardevân kanı
Bozuldu cümlesinin izzeti mahvoldu devrânı
Tekebbürlük Hüdâya yaraşur sen Âdemîdensin
Vücûdun anla ey gâfil ki bir katre menîdensin

Stanza II

Görünen Âdemîler sûretâ gerçi ki insandır
Nazar kıl cân gözüyle ekseri ma’nîde hayvândır
Bu remzi fehm idenler şöyle bil kim ehl-i irfândır
Nazar kılmaz sözüm gûş eylemez onlar ki nâdândır
Cihânda şimdi kâmiller ta yüz hâk ile yeksândır
Sürer her câhil-i nâdân safâ vü zevk-i şâdândır
Kimi nâlân kimi hândân kimi derdiyle giryândır
Kimisi kibr ü kiniyle sanur kendüyi insândır
Sürer bir gün ânı çarha ecel zirâ ki devrândır
Benim hayretdedir aklım buna hayli perîşândır
Tekebbürlük Hüdâya yaraşur sen Âdemîdensin
Vücûdun anla ey gâfil ki bir katre menîdensin

Stanza III

Nedir bu şevket ü bu tumturak ey tâlib-i dünyâ
Cihân bir pîre-zendir bir nazarda görünür zîbâ
Sonunda zehr ü gâm nûş etdürür yok kurtuluş aslâ
Tutalım kim yemişsin bir iki gün sükkerî halvâ
Nice Behrâm-ı Gûrı eyledi gûr içre nâ-peydâ
Yatur zîr-i zemîn içre nice bin Hüsrev ü Dârâ
Abâ-pûş ol gider peleng hevâsın kılma istiğnâ
Ecel geldikde bir gün diyesin âh eyleyüb hayfâ
Zamânında ölürsün nef’i yok şâh-ı cihân ârâ
Zebân-ı hâl ile söyler bu remzi anlasan eşyâ
Tekebbürlük Hüdâya yaraşur sen Âdemîdensin
Vücûdun anla ey gâfil ki bir katre menîdensin

Stanza IV

Zamanında olursan devlet ile ger şeh-i âlem
İgende gırre olma ki iki gün oluben hurrem
Bekâsı yok bilürsün âkibet var âhirinde gam
Sunup câmı kim oldu ibret al kim nice yüz bin Cem
Yaturlar bî-nişân hâk içre nice Hüsrev ü Rüstem
Cihânda bir iki gün şâd olursan âhiri mâtem
Dayanma lezzet-i dehre sonunda söniser dersem
Kimi güldürse bir kaç gün ider çeşmin yine pür-nem
Fenâsını anıp ağlar cihânun her seher sînem
Gönül vermez ona meyl eylemez âkil olan Âdem
Tekebbürlük Hüdâya yaraşur sen Âdemîdensin
Vücûdun anla ey gâfil ki bir katre menîdensin

Stanza V

Seversin şöhret-i dünyâyı gerçi şimdi ey gâfil
Sonunda zehr-i gam nûş etdürür âhir ecel müşkil
Libâsun bir kefen şâhım sana tâbût olur mahmil
Gider benlik hevâsın cân u dilden eylegil zâil
Hevâ-yı nefsi terk et olma dünyâ semtine mâil
Bu remzi fehm ider anlar cihan içre olan âkil
Bilürsin kurtuluş yok zir-i hâk olur sana menzil
Nidersin mansıb-ı dehri sözüm tut olma lâ-ya’kil
Bu dünyâ-yı denîye aldanur mı Sıdkıyâ kâmil
Sözüm tut doğru yola git kimesne olmaya hâil
Tekebbürlük Hüdâya yaraşur sen Âdemîdensin
Vücûdun anla ey gâfil ki bir katre menîdensin

In English

Stanza I

1. Do not be proud, keep clear of arrogance, understand what man is; do not look with contempt on Solomon's ant when you see it.

2. This world has no permanence, you know its end is passing; suppose you had become the khan of the world from end to end.

3. Where are Darius and Alexander, where the Faghfur of China and the khans? The old hag of the world (Zâl) has done away with Rustam, Sâm and Narimân.

4. It has scattered many a throne of Solomon and given it to the wind; beware of thinking this arena empty of the sword of death.

5. Where are Zahhâk, Jamshid, Anushirvan and Ardavan, where? The glory of them all is ruined, their age has vanished.

6. Greatness befits God alone, you are of the sons of Adam; heedless one, know your being: you are from a drop of seed.

Stanza II

7. The sons of Adam we see may be human in outward form, but look with the eye of the soul: most of them are beasts in essence.

8. Know that those who grasp this subtlety are people of wisdom; those who do not heed my word and will not listen are ignorant.

9. In the world now the faces of the accomplished are level with the dust; every unlearned ignorant man enjoys himself in delight and merriment.

10. Some moan, some laugh, some weep with their pain; and some, with their pride and rancour, think themselves human.

11. One day death will drive him too onto the wheel, for time turns and turns; my mind is in wonder at this, much perplexed.

12. Greatness befits God alone, you are of the sons of Adam; heedless one, know your being: you are from a drop of seed.

Stanza III

13. Seeker of the world, what is this pomp, this display? The world is an old hag who looks beautiful at a first glance.

14. In the end she makes you drink poison and grief, and there is no escape at all; suppose you have eaten sugared halva for a day or two.

15. She has made many a Bahram Gur vanish in the grave (gûr); many thousands of Khosrows and Dariuses lie beneath the earth.

16. Wear the dervish cloak, rid yourself of the desire for the leopard skin, do not think yourself above need; when death comes one day you will say, "Ah, alas".

17. When your time comes you will die, your world-adorning kingship will be of no use to you; if you understood, things themselves speak this secret in the language of their state.

18. Greatness befits God alone, you are of the sons of Adam; heedless one, know your being: you are from a drop of seed.

Stanza IV

19. Even if in your time you find fortune and become king of the world, do not be deceived and proud because you were happy for two days. (The reading of the word "İgende" at the beginning of the line is unclear in the print; the sense has been drawn from the rest of the line.)

20. You know the world has no permanence, at its end there is grief; of those who offered the cup, who remained? Take warning that many hundred thousand Jamshids,

21. many Khosrows and Rustams lie without trace in the earth; if you rejoice in the world for a day or two, its end is mourning.

22. Do not trust the pleasure of time, I say it is extinguished in the end; though it makes some laugh for a few days, it then fills their eyes with tears again.

23. Remembering the world's transience my breast weeps every dawn; the wise man does not give his heart to it nor incline towards it.

24. Greatness befits God alone, you are of the sons of Adam; heedless one, know your being: you are from a drop of seed.

Stanza V

25. Heedless one, now you love the fame of the world, but in the end it makes you drink the poison of grief; and death is hard at the last.

26. My king, your garment will be a shroud, your litter a coffin; rid yourself of the desire for self, remove it from your soul and heart.

27. Leave the desire of the self, do not incline towards the world; the wise in the world understand this subtlety.

28. You know there is no escape, beneath the earth will be your lodging; what will you do with the office of this world? Heed my word, do not be witless.

29. O Sıdkî, will an accomplished man be deceived by this base world? Heed my word, go on the right path, so that no one may stand in your way.

30. Greatness befits God alone, you are of the sons of Adam; heedless one, know your being: you are from a drop of seed.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Poem of Dismissal

Hüsameddin introduces the poem with this sentence: "Sadr-ı a'zam Kara Mustafa Paşa'nın kibir ve garazıyla azil ve i'zâm edildikde şu Tercî-i Bend'i yazmışdır" (when he was dismissed and sent away through the pride and rancour of the Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha, he wrote this tercî-i bend). According to Hüsameddin's account, shortly after the accession of Sultan İbrahim the Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha, because of his hostility to the men of the grand viziers before him, dismissed Sıdkı from the office of chief scribe in Muharrem 1050 (1640) and sent him to Amasya. Read with this knowledge, it becomes clear whom the poem addresses. The refrain beginning "Tekebbürlük Hüdâya yaraşur" reminds that greatness belongs to God alone and that man was created from a drop of fluid; this harsh reminder is spoken against the pride of a high official. In the last stanza the person addressed as "şâhım" (my king) is told that his garment will be a shroud and his litter a coffin, which also shows that he held a lofty office. Kara Mustafa Pasha's name does not occur in the poem. According to Hüsameddin's chronology the Pasha was executed three years later, in 1053, and only then could Sıdkı return to İstanbul.

Structure

The tercî-i bend is a verse form made of stanzas with separate rhymes and a "linking couplet" (vasıta beyti) repeated unchanged at the end of each stanza. Sıdkı's poem consists of five stanzas, and in each the same linking couplet follows five couplets. Within the stanzas all the lines rhyme on the same sound: "-ânı" in the first stanza, "-ândır" in the second, "-â" in the third, "-em" in the fourth, "-il" in the fifth. This is a denser web of sound than the pattern of the ghazal, where only the two lines of the first couplet and the second lines of the following couplets rhyme, and it repeats the admonition with the insistence of a chant. In the fourth stanza a sentence crosses the boundary of the couplet: the sentence of the line ending in "nice yüz bin Cem" is completed by "Yaturlar bî-nişân hâk içre" in the next couplet.

The Rulers of the Past

The backbone of the poem is the familiar "where are they" (kanı) question of the theme of transience. The first and third stanzas name in turn the great rulers and heroes of the Iranian and Islamic tradition: Darius, Alexander, Faghfur, the title of the emperors of China, Zahhâk, Jamshid, Anushirvan, Ardavan, Khosrow and Bahram Gur. The heroic line of the Shahnameh also appears in exact order: Narimân, his son Sâm, his son Zâl, and Zâl's son Rustam. The phrase "Zâl-ı dünyâ" in the third couplet is therefore double: in Persian "zâl" means old woman, and in divan poetry the world is often likened to an old hag; but the mention of Rustam and Sâm in the same line also recalls Zâl, Rustam's father. The old hag of the world has destroyed Zâl's own line.

The Bahram Gur couplet in the third stanza also rests on a well-known double entendre (tevriye). The Sasanian ruler Bahram took this by-name from his love of hunting the wild ass (gûr), and according to one story he fell into a pit while chasing a gûr and disappeared; in Persian "gûr" means grave. The phrase "she made Bahram Gur vanish in the gûr" touches all these meanings. The "evreng-i Süleymân" in the first stanza points to Solomon's throne, which the wind was believed to carry, and the idiom "yele vermek" (to give to the wind) plays on this belief; the "mûr-ı Süleymân" of the first couplet recalls the ant that speaks before Solomon's army in the sura al-Naml of the Qur'an.

On the Text

Hüsameddin gives the poem without naming his source; he probably took it from a copy of Sıdkı's divan or from an anthology. The word "İgende" at the beginning of the first line of the fourth stanza yields no intelligible reading in this edition and has been left unchanged here. Mehtap Erdoğan's edition of the divan was not available to us, so the text could not be compared with it. The poet's life and the dismissal he suffered under Kara Mustafa Pasha are told in detail in the article Sıdkı Mustafa Pasha.

Bibliography

Online sources