-1-

Beni candan usandırdı cefâdan yâr usanmaz mı
Felekler yandı âhımdan murâdım şem´i yanmaz mı

She made me tired of my life, doesnt my love get tired of her cruelty?

Heavens burned from my sigh, doesnt the candle of my will burn?

Kamu bîmârına cânân deva-yı derd eder ihsan
Niçün kılmaz bana derman beni bîmar sanmaz mı

She gives the cure of trouble to every patient of her

Why doesnt she heal me, doesnt she think that I am a patient too?

Şeb-i hicran yanar cânım döker kan çeşm-i giryânım
Uyarır halkı efgânım kara bahtım uyanmaz mı

My soul burns at the night of seperation, my crying eyes shed tears of blood

My cries make people wake up, doesn´t my bad fortune wake up too?

Gûl-i ruhsârına karşu gözümden kanlu akar su
Habîbim fasl-ı güldür bu akar sular bulanmaz mı

Against your rose like cheek, water fall bloody from my eye

My love, this is season of rose; don´t rivers blur?

Gâmım pinhan tutardım ben dedîler yâre kıl rûşen
Desem ol bî-vefâ bilmem inanır mı inanmaz mı

I was keeping my grief as a secret, they said make it known to the beloved

If I said, I don´t know whether that unfaithful would believe or not.

Değildim ben sana mâil sen ettin aklımı zâil
Beni tan eyleyen gafîl seni görgeç utanmaz mı

I was not interested in you, you made my mind undecided

Wouldn´t that unwary person (who speaks ill of me) be ashamed when he saw you.

Fuzûlî rind-i şeydâdır hemîşe halka rüsvâdır
Sorun kim bu ne sevdâdır bu sevdâdan usanmaz mı

Fuzuli is a crazy bohemian and always shameful in the eyes of folk

Ask what kind of love this is, isnt he sick of it?

                                                                       Fuzuli (1483-1556)

turkish ottoman is so different than new turkish

                                             -2-

Sakiya mey sun ki bir gün lalezar elden gider

 O cupbearer! Present me wine. One day tulip garden will go out of hand.

Is this the same person whom the Arabs call Muhammad il-Fatah (“Muhammad the Opener” ) and who conquered Istanbul from the Patriarch of Constantinopole in the 15^th century?  -  I didn’t know he was a poet but little I know.

Poetry was very much appreciated in early Islamic societies. It has been told that some of the Prophet’s closest people, for instance his wife Aisha, had great knowledge in poetry. This side of Islam, appreciation of scholarship and tolerance of worldly life, is unfortunately not very much stressed by islamists of these days.

This poem is real lyrics in the sense that it doesn’t manifest anything but reflects a person’s inner life, insecurity and the psychological dissonance we all struggle with. Thank you for adding today´s portion of culture, gokuyum.

Yes. We call him Fatih Sultan Mehmet. Fatih means opener or conquerer. Mehmet is a variation of Muhammed in Turkish.

There are other poet emperors too. I will also translate their poems.

                                   -3-

Halk içinde mu´teber bir nesne yok devlet gibi
Olmaya devlet cihânda bir nefes sihhat gibi

There is no worthy thing like prosperity inside the folk

There is no prosperity like a breath of health in the world.

Ko bu ays u isreti çünkim fenâdur âkibet
Yâr-i baaki ister isen olmaya tâat gibi

Leave this junket because its end is bad.

If you want an everlasting beloved, there is no other than worshipping.

Olsa kumlar sagisinca ömrüne hadd ü aded
Gelmeye bu sise-i çarh içre bir sâat gibi

If you had days to live as many as sands

They wouldnt be even one hour in this bottle of heavens.

Saltanat didükleri ancak cihân gavgaasidur
Olmaya baht u saâdet âlem-i vahdet gibi

The thing that they call sultanate is only fight for world.

There is no fortune and happiness like the universe of unity.

Ger huzûr itmek dilesen ey Muhibbî fârig ol
Var midur vahdet makaami gûse-i uzlet gibi

If you want to be in peace Muhibbi, be away from everything.

Is there a place of unity like the place of loneliness  ?

                                                 Muhibbi (Suleiman the Magnificent) 1494-1566

Here is a poem of another poet emperor. First couplet of poem is very famous.

It seems that there were some pure humanists wandering around in the halls and corridors of Istanbul palaces. They just hid their real nature behind pompous nicknames like the Great, the Conqueror, the Lawgiver and the Magnificient.

...unity here means unity with god. this is an early islamic sufism, may be seen on mawlana and yunus emre and other sufis. it is clear that most of the sultans was also sufis too.

Seems there is a hole in knowledge from these poems. As yet I had not found any sources that tell what languages were being spoken in the later years, but I had figured Arabic was being spoken in the Ottoman empire at least for most of it, Or was this Turkish being spoken up until the last Sultan (1913)?

Curiosity of Türk history came with learning the language, for me at least. Ive been reading about ´Ottoman´ culture and military history (because of this I wish I had a way to see that film Fetih 1453) 

Turkish was being spoken in Ottoman empire. But Ottoman Turkish was used as a written language by intellectuals. We used Arab alphabet but we didnt speak Arabic in daily life. Arabic was the language of science. In schools they taught mathematic, astronomy, chemistry, etc, with Arabic.