Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Çünki ʿAbdü’l-ḥayya virildi ḳażā-yı Aġlasun
Ol yir ehli ölüsin ḳosun dirisin aġlasun

In English

1. Since the judgeship of Ağlasun has been given to Abdülhay, let the people of that place leave their dead and weep for their living. That is, under the new judge the plight of the living will be more pitiable than that of the dead.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The couplet is a single couplet (müfred) composed on its own. The two lines end in "Aġlasun" and "aġlasun": the first is the name of the town, the second the verb "let them weep". As in the preceding Tursun couplet, the rhyme rests on using the same word in two meanings, a cinas-ı tâm, a perfect pun. The edition of the tezkire does not indicate the metre; the lines fit the pattern fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün, an observation that is ours. When it was composed is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The couplet is a satire built on two names. The first is the name of the town: Ağlasun is a district (kaza) in the sanjak of Hamîdili, and its name can be read in Turkish as "let them weep". Seyfî turns this coincidence into a piece of advice to the townspeople. The second is the name of the new judge: Abdülhay means "servant of the Ever-Living", and al-Hayy, "the Living, the Everlasting", is one of the names of God. The contrast between "the dead" and "the living" in the second line is a hidden allusion to this name: since a judge whose name carries "the living" has come, the people should weep not for their dead but for the living left in his hands. The phrase "ölüsin ḳosun dirisin aġlasun", leave the dead and weep for the living, recalls a popular saying about ceasing to mourn the dead and grieving instead for the state of the living; this resemblance is our observation. The antithesis (dead-living), the pun (Ağlasun-ağlasun) and the allusion through the name together make a sharp satire within a two-line couplet.

Historical Context

According to Âşık Çelebi, the couplet was composed when the judgeship of Ağlasun in Hamîdili was given to a certain Abdülhay of the Isparta-zâdes. According to the edition's note, the word "Ḥamīdili'nde", in Hamîdili, is missing from manuscript F. No further information is given about Abdülhay, and it is not known whether the couplet arose from a personal grudge against him or from a reaction to the appointment of someone thought unworthy of a judgeship. Since Seyfî was himself a judge, the couplet can be read as an internal criticism questioning the merit of a colleague. The biographer gives this couplet after the Tursun couplet as a further example of Seyfî's witty and outspoken nature.

Bibliography

Online sources