-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 among 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.

Within the Ottoman Empire, the Turks had constituted merely one of many linguistic and ethnic groups. In fact, for the ruling elite. Members of the civil, military, and religious elites conversed and conducted their business in Ottoman Turkish, which was a mixture of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish. Arabic remained the primary language of religion and religious law (see Religious Life, this ch.). Persian was the language of art, refined literature, and diplomacy. At an official level, Ottoman Turkish usually was used only for matters pertaining to the administration of the empire. Ottoman Turkish not only borrowed vocabulary from Arabic and Persian but also lifted entire expressions and syntactic structures out of these languages and incorporated them into the Ottoman idiom.

The multiple linguistic influences on Ottoman Turkish caused difficulties in spelling and writing. The constituent parts--Turkish, Persian, and Arabic--belong to three different language families--Ural-Altaic, Indo-European, and Semitic, respectively--and the writing system fits only Semitic. Phonological, grammatical, and etymological principles are quite different among the three families. For these reasons, modernist intellectuals during the nineteenth century began to call for a reform of the language. They advocated a language that would be easier to read and write and contain more purely Turkish words. The principle of Turkish language reform thus was tied intimately to the reforms of the 1839-78 period (see External Threats and Internal Transformations, ch. 1). Later in the nineteenth century, language reform became a political issue. Turkish nationalists sought a language that would unite rather than divide the people. In the writings of Ziya Gökalp (d. 1924), Turkish nationalism was presented as the force uniting all those who were Turks by language and ethnic background.

With the establishment of the republic, Atatürk made language reform an important part of the nationalist program. The goal was to produce a language that was more Turkish and less Arabic, Persian, and Islamic; one that was more modern, practical, and precise, and less difficult to learn. The republican language reform called for a drastic alteration of both the spoken and the written language. This process was to be accomplished through two basic strategies--adoption of a new alphabet and purification of the vocabulary.

The language revolution (dil devrimi ) officially began in May 1928, when numbers written in Arabic were replaced with their Western equivalents. In November the Grand National Assembly approved a new Latin alphabet that had been devised by a committee of scholars. Many members of the assembly favored gradually introducing the new letters over a period lasting up to five years. Atatürk, however, insisted that the transition last only a few months, and his opinion prevailed. With chalk and a portable blackboard, he traveled throughout the country giving writing lessons in the new Latin alphabet in schools, village squares, and other public places to a people whose illiteracy rate was suddenly 100 percent. On January 1, 1929, it became unlawful to use the Arabic alphabet to write Turkish.

The new Latin alphabet represented the Turkish vowels and consonants more clearly than had the Arabic alphabet. One symbol was used for each sound of standard Turkish, which was identified as the educated speech of Istanbul. By replacing the Arabic with the Latin alphabet, Turkey turned consciously toward the West and effectively severed a major link with a part of its Islamic heritage. By providing the new generation no need or opportunity to learn Arabic letters, the alphabet reform cut it off from Turkey´s Ottoman past, culture, and value system, as well as from religion (see Atatürk´s Reforms, ch. 1).

Atatürk and his language reformers viewed non-Turkish words as symbols of the past. They encouraged a national campaign, supported by government policies, to purify the language. Lexicographers began to drop Arabic and Persian words from dictionaries, substituting for them resurrected archaic terms or words from Turkish dialects or new words coined from old stems and roots. The Turkish Language Society (Türk Dil Kurumu), founded in 1932, supervised the collection and dissemination of Turkish folk vocabulary and folk phrases to be used in place of foreign words. The citizenry at large was invited to suggest alternatives to words and expressions of non-Turkish origin, and many responded. In 1934 lists of new Turkish words began to be published, and in 1935 they began to appear in newspapers.

Enthusiasm for language reform reached its height in the mid-1930s. Some of the suggested reforms were so extreme as to endanger the comprehension of the language. Although purists and zealots favored the complete banishment of all words of non-Turkish origin, many officials realized that some of the suggested reforms verged on the ridiculous. Atatürk resolved the problem with an ingenious political invention that, although embarrassing to language experts, appealed to the nationalists. He suggested the historically inaccurate but politically efficacious Sun-Language Theory, which asserted that Turkish was the "mother of all languages," and that therefore all foreign words originally were Turkish. Thus, if a suitable Turkish equivalent for a foreign word could not be found, the loanword could be retained without violating the "purity" of the Turkish language.

By the late 1940s, considerable opposition to the purification movement had emerged. Teachers, writers, poets, journalists, editors, and others began to complain publicly about the instability and arbitrariness of the officially sanctioned vocabulary. In 1950 the Turkish Language Society lost its semi-official status. Eventually, some Arabic and Persian loanwords began to reappear in government publications.

The language reform´s long-term effects have been mixed. The phonetically designed alphabet based on the Latin script facilitated the quick acquisition of literacy. In addition, the developers of modern Turkish consciously incorporated scientific and technological terms. By making possible a uniform mass language that soon acquired its own literature, the reform also helped to lessen the linguistic gap between the classes, a legacy of Ottoman society. Although the newly created works lacked some of the rich connotations of the older lexicon, modern Turkish developed as a fertile literary language as prose writers and poets created powerful works in this new idiom, especially after 1950. The cost of language reform, however, has been a drastic and permanent estrangement from the literary and linguistic heritage of the Ottomans. Although some prerepublican writings have been transliterated into the new alphabet, the vocabulary and syntax are barely understandable to a speaker of modern Turkish.

Language and language reform continue to be political issues in Turkey. Each decade since Atatürk´s death has been characterized by its own particular stance vis-à-vis language reform: whether to support a more traditional lexicon or a modern, Turkified one abounding in Western loanwords and indigenous coinages. Language reform and modern usage have pushed forward during periods of liberal governments and been deemphasized under conservative governments such as those of the 1980s. Meanwhile, religious publications have not been as affected by language reforms as secular literature. Religious publications have continued to use an idiom that is heavily Arabic or Persian in vocabulary and Persian in syntax. The emergence of a popular religious-oriented political movement in the 1990s has resulted in the reintroduction of many Islamic terms into spoken Turkish.

Source: U.S. Library of Congress

Mahlas Selimi (Yavuz Sultan Selim 1512-20 ) also wrote verses in Turkish and Persian.

gokuyum?

 I will translate one of his poems when I have time abla. I didnt think you were interested in Ottoman Poetry

Maybe I wasn´t but now I am.

An example of language purification:

When i was at high school, which is in 1998-2001, ministry of education sent banned words list to all schools, telling these shouldnt be used. one of my teachers aganist banning words, so he told us the list in classroom sent by goverment. the most interesting word was "hoca". Ministry of education tells that student and teachers must use "öğretmen" (teacher) instead of hoca (hodja, master) which has persian origin. interestingly almost all high school students prefer to say "hoca" for their teachers, this is same in universities too.

this purification process continued for about 70 years! it was so effective that turkish students sometimes cant understand the language written before 1930s.

mostly right wing paties dont like this purification process, so it was stopped after 2001. maybe it may start in the future again, when the ruling party replaces with a left wing party.

An interesting view, ikicihan.

I am amazed how well language purification has succeeded for Turkish. I am just a foreigner but when I look at some texts from a hundred years ago it seems to me that the written language was in the process of losing its own vocabulary and being corrupted by foreign influence. Now it is under control. A while ago there was a thread here about computer terms which are newcomers in every language. The touch of Türk Dil Kurumu shows in them. They are not flowing into language uncontrolled from English but replaced with Turkish reserves.

What you say here surprises me:

I dont support puricification in Turkish anymore. It is the reason whole Ottomon

literature of 600 years is lost for us now. And Arabic and Farsi words in Turkish

really makes it easy to learn those languages for a Turk. We have strong cultur-

al ties with Arabic and Farsi culture. And I dont want to see them weaken any-

more.

Selim Bir Gazel

A Perfect Gazel

Gözlerimden akdı deryalar gibi yaşum benim

Dostlar çok nesne gördü onmadık başum benim

My tears flew from my eyes like seas. O friends! My unfortuned head saw a lot of things.

Geçmek içün seyl-i ekşimden hayâlün askerleri

Bir direkli iki gözli köprüdür kaşum benim

My eyebrow is a bridge made of one pillar and two holes in order soldiers of imagination to pass through the flood of my tears.

Her gice altun benekli asumaniler geyup,

İş bu çarh-ı pire-zen olmışdur aynaşum benim

My beloved became the hag of heavens wearing blue and spotty clothes every night.

Ben geda firkat diyârında kalurdum yalınuz

Mihnet ü derd ü belâ olmasa yoldaşım benim

Poor me would stay alone in this land of seperation if bother and worry and trouble weren’t my companions.

Cümle âlem dir bana hep senündür bu cihân

Kâfirem ger var-ısa içinde bir taşum benüm

Everybody says me “This world is all yours”. I am an infidel if I even own a stone in it.

İy felek tokuz dolu câm içmeyince Hân Selim

Devr içinde kimse olmadı ayakdaşum benim

O fate! Nobody became my companion in this age untill Khan Selim drank nine full cups

                                                                            (Yavuz Sultan Selim)

Cümle âlem dir bana hep senündür bu cihân

Kâfirem ger var-ısa içinde bir taşum benüm

Everybody says me “This world is all yours”. I am an infidel if I even own a stone in it.

Such a great couplet. He is the Ottoman emperor but he says he doesnt even own a stone in this world. He wants to express that everything belongs to God.

gokuyum, thank you.

A great, fearless, admired man who had his lonely and melancholic side. Very touching in my opinion.

I like the metaphor of eyebrow being a bridge over the tears.

Az önce gördüklerime ınanamıyorum! O.. Ottoman Poetry, Çok güzel Gokuyum,

İtıraf etmelıyız.  "Ottoman 3", Hepimiz izlemek için yanıp tutuşuyoruz.

Size minnettarım: Çok teşekkür ederim. Sağolun arkadaşlar.

                    -4-

OK BEDENDEN ÇIKINCA...

 When the arrow comes out of body

Benim tek hiç kim zar ü perişan olmasın ya Rab
Esir-i derd-i aşk u dağ-i hicran olmasın ya Rab

O God! May nobody cry and be miserable like me.

O God!May nobody be captive of sorrow of love and wound of separation.

Dem-a-dem cevrlerdir çekdiğim bi-rahm bütlerden
Bu kafirler esiri bir müselman olmasın ya Rab

It is the torment that I always suffer from cruel beautiful women

O God! May a muslim not be captive of these infidels

Görüb endişe-i katlimde ol mahı budur derdim
Ki bu endişeden ol meh peşiman olmasın ya Rab

I saw that beautiful (like moon) thinking my death

O God! May she not regret this thought.

Çıharmak itseler tenden çeküb peykanı ol servin
Çıhan olsun dil-i mecruh peykan olmasın ya Rab

If they want to take out the arrow of that beautiful (like cypress)

O God! May it be my wounded heart, not the arrow.

Cefa ü cevr ile mu ´tadım anlarsız n´olur halim
Cefasına had ü cevrine payan olmasın ya Rab

I got used to her cruelty and torment, what would I do without them?

O God! May not be a limit of her cruelty and end of her torment

Demen kim adli yok ya zulmü çok her hal ile olsa
Gönül tahtına andan gayrı sultan olmasın ya Rab

I never say she is not just and she is very cruel whatever happens
O God! May not be another sultan sitting on the throne of my heart other than her

Fuzuli buldu genc-i afiyet mey-hane küncünde
Mübarek mülkdür ol mülk viran olmasın ya Rab

Fuzuli found the treasure of well-being in a tavern

O God! It is such a holly place may it not be a ruin.

                                                                        Fuzuli (1483-1556)

What a wonderful poem! It has a sufi symbolism. Let me explain the symbolism in poem a little bit:

beautiful, beloved : God

wine: love

tavern: dervish lodge

to die: come together with God

torment and cruelty: the way of getting rid of bodily desires.

Although I am not mystical, I liked this poem

Fuzuli was Azeri actually. Is his Turkish different?

Arabs typically compare a beautiful woman´s face to the moon. Is it a usual metaphor in Turkish also?

Quote:Aida Krishan

Although I am not mystical, I liked this poem

I agree with you, Aida Krishan. I am a little bit allergic to Sufism as a matter of fact. gokuyum has a mission here.

His language has Azeri characteristics. But in his time there was no big difference between these two dialects. One of the important sources of Ottoman poetry is sufism. You can witness sufi symbolism in most of the poems. I am really into sufism. But it is not only about me. If you really want to understand Ottoman poetry, you should know sufi symbolism. After I read this poem, I was full of excitement. I saw a wonderful beauty in the poem. And it is one of my characteristics to share beauty with others. So I translated it. Hope you like it.

In Turkish you can refer to a beautiful woman in the same way in Arabic. We share same cultrual ground with them in litrature and etc....

Quite risky...

Do they have the word repentance in their vocabulary, these Bektashis?

Yes it is. But don´t forget there is a symbolism in this poem. Kul Nesimi took his pen name influenced by Seyyid Nesimi( he was skinned alive because of his radical ideas on vahdet-i vücud). This is what I call risk

Here is a scene of Azerbaijanian movie about Seyyid Nesimi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ats2mQVqCNw&feature=related

very interesting

A beautiful invitation to monotheism, that´s how I see it.

The language is amazingly modern, I would use the word pure if I may. I had to check the timing: thirteenth century isn´t it?

i think the word "kuran" here is not a book name, it should be a verb: kur-mak: to build sth up. otağı kuran: the one who build (or erected) the otag (a big and luxury tent)

You are absolutely right. I read it like a "farsça tamlama". I will correct it. Thanks

It is a translation abla. Because Mevlana wrote his poems in Farsi language. But I still wanted to add this translation here.

Can you explain why this seems as an invitation to you?

Abiler, coşmuşsunuz yürekten kutluyorum... 

I first heard this poem in Deli Yürek tv series. Kuşçu was saying this poem. I was going to high school and it effected me so much. I even remember it after all those years

It is about religion. It seemed clear to me from the first sight. What else but God can you describe with attributions like this: the only one who really knows you, your arm and wing, your clear sea, the one you eventually return to?

The addressee has been lost. Despite the fact that she knew what is best for her she kept her own mind and trusted herself to strangers.

Well, I think it could be seen in two ways: the speaker is accusing or he is calling her back in repentance. I chose the latter one because the metaphors are merciful, compassionate, offering a second chance. The speaker is not turning away from a hopeless case but explaining the basics once more patiently.

Yes, this is a possible read. But I couldn´t read it like you because I knew the context. But that doesn´t mean your reading is wrong. Very interesting. We discuss these issues in university

,

Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi

Etme Don´t

Duydum ki bizi bırakmaya azmediyorsun etme I heard that you were willing to leave us, don´t!

Başka bir yar başka bir dosta meylediyorsun etme You head towards another beloved, another friend, don´t!
Sen yadeller dünyasında ne arıyorsun yabancı What do you look for in the foreign lands, o stranger!
Hangi hasta gönüllüyü kasdediyorsun etme Which sick-hearted person do you want, don´t!
Çalma bizi bizden bizi gitme o ellere doğru Don´t steal us from us, don´t go to those lands!
Çalınmış başkalarına nazar ediyorsun etme You look at stolen people, don´t!
Ey ay felek harab olmuş alt üst olmuş senin için O moon! Heavens have gone to ruin and turned upside down for you
Bizi öyle harab öyle alt üst ediyorsun etme You devastate and ruin us so much, don´t!

Ey makamı var ve yokun üzerinde olan kişi O the one who has a position over existence and absence
Sen varlık sahasını öyle terk ediyorsun etme You leave the ground of existance, don´t!
Sen yüz çevirecek olsan ay kapkara olur gamdan If you turned your face away from moon, it would be pitch-dark because of its sorrow
Ayın da evini yıkmayı kastediyorsun etme You want to destroy home of moon too, don´t
Bizim dudağımız kurur sen kuruyacak olsan Our lips would dry, if you got dried
Gözlerimizi öyle yaş dolu ediyorsun etme You fill our eyes with tears, don´t!
Aşıklarla başa çıkacak gücün yoksa eğer If you don´t have enough power to handle lovers
Aşka öyleyse ne diye hayret ediyorsun etme Why are you amazed with love then? Don´t!
Ey cennetin cehennemin elinde olduğu kişi O the one who has heaven and hell in his hand
Bize cenneti öyle cehennem ediyorsun etme You make heaven hell for us, don´t!
Şekerliğinin içinde zehir zarar vermez bize Poison can´t harm us in your sweetness
O zehiri o şekerle sen bir ediyorsun etme… You mix that poison with that sugar, don´t!
Bizi sevindiriyorsun huzurumuz kaçar öyle You make us happy but it disturbs us
Huzurumu bozuyorsun sen mahvediyorsun etme You disturb and destroy us, don´t!
Harama bulaşan gözüm güzelliğinin hırsızı My sinful eye is the thief of your beauty
Ey hırsızlığa da değen hırsızlık ediyorsun etme O the one who is worthy of being stolen, you steal. Don´t!
İsyan et ey arkadaşım söz söyleyecek an değil Rebel, o my friend. It is not  time for words.
Aşkın baygınlığıyla ne meşk ediyorsun etme!! What do you do in the unconsciousness of love? Don´t!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoYubbeAGt0

This poem was written for Şems (his best friend) by Rumi after seperation of him. Şems was killed by a group of people who were jealous of the friendship between him and Mevlana. He accepted his fate and embraced it willingly.

Münacat Appeal

 Ya Rab hemişe lutfunu kıl reh-nüma bana  O Lord! Always make your grace a guide for me.
Gösterme ol tariki ki yetmez sana bana  Don´t show me the road which doesn´t go to you.

Kat´ eyle aşinalığım andan ki gayrdır  Cut my acquaintanceship with others
Ancak öz aşinaların et aşina bana  Make your real acquaintances acquaintance for me

Bir yerde sabit et kadem-i i´tibarımı Make my foot of esteem steady in a place
Kim rehber-i şeri´at ola mukteda bana May guide of Islamic law be my imam

Yok bende bir amel sana şayeste ah eğer I don´t have any deed worthy of you 

A´malime göre vere adlin ceza bana Pity if your justice give a punishment according to my deeds.

Havf ü hatada muztaribim var ümid kim I am troubled with fear of my sins, but I have hope
Lutfun vere beşaret-i afv-i ata bana May your grace give me the good news of your forgiving

Ben bilmezem bana gereğin sen Hakim´sin I don´t know what is necessary for me, you are the wisest.
Men´ eyle verme her ne gerekmez sana bana Forbid it, don´t give me what is not necessary for you.

Habs-i hevada koyma Fuzuli-sıfat esir Don´t put me into the prison of passions like Fuzuli
Ya Rab hidayet eyle tarik-i fena bana O Lord! Guide me to the road going to disappearance in your love.

Fuzuli

What a central concept mercy is in Islam.

The lot of the believer is always to live between hope and fear. Umar ibn al-Khattab who was one of the closest people to Prophet Muhammad said if he was told one person only will be granted Paradise he´d think it is him and if he knew only one would go to hell he would also think it must be him.

Yes, we live between havf(fear) and reca(hope). This is one of the main themes of Ottoman poetry. We can never be sure that we will be forgiven but we can always hope it.

Great interpratations of the prominent examples of Ottoman Poetry, Gökuyum.

I haven´t come across English translations of  those poems before, thank you for your efforts and this academic level work of yours that requires not only Farsi,Arabic knowledge but also knowledge of Sufistic way of thinking.

Eline, kalemine sağlık Ustad.

Thank you tunci. My purpose is to introduce Ottoman poetry to foreigners and to show them how humanist and how deep it is. And if they have some prejudgements about us, I want to break them. And you are also doing great work explaining grammer issues with so much details. It requires a lot of patience which I don´t have. It really amazes me. Take care.

Some Chosen Couplets From Ottoman Poetry

Aşk imiş her ne vâr âlemde

İlm bir kîl ü kâl imiş ancak

Everything exist in universe is love

Wisdom is only a tittle-tattle.

Fuzûlî

Her kişi âşık olurdu eğer âsân olsa

If it was easy, everybody would fall in love.

                      Taşlıcalı Yahya Bey

Lisân-ı aşkı bilir terceman bulunmadı hiç

The translator who knows the language of love has never been found.

                       Neccar Zade Şeyh Rıza

Baharı neyleriz ol gülizâr-ı gonce femin

Gülüb açılması bin nevbahâra değmez mi?

What is the use of spring? Isn’t the laughing and opening of that

rose garden’s bud like mouth worth of thousand springs?

                                         Nâilî’i Kadîm

Bir az gel bağa, bülbül dinle, gül seyret, açıl cânâ

Ki sen dâhî henüz âçılmamış bir gonce-i tersin

Come to garden, listen to nightingales, watch the roses, open o heart

You are just a young bud who is not open yet.

                                                      Nedim

 Bir elinde gül, bir elde câm geldin sâkiyâ

Kangısın alsam gülü, yâ câmı, yahud ki seni

O cupbearer! You came with a rose in one hand, with a cup in

another hand. Which one should I take? Rose, cup or you?

                                                     Nedim

Meyhâne yıkıldı, mest ayakda

Tavern is wrecked, drunks are still on foot.

                             Abdülhak Hâmid

Menden ey Fuzuli isteme eşarı medh ü zem

Men âşıkam, hemişe sözüm âşıkânedir

O Fuzuli! Don’t want from me poems of praise and condemnation

I am a lover, every word of mine is amotary

                                           Fuzûlî

Şirler pençe-i Kahrımdan olurken lerzân

Beni bir gözleri âhûya zebûn itdi felek

When the lions were trembling with the fear of my wrath´s claw

Fate has made me prey of a gazelle eyed beautiful

                             Yavuz Sultan Selim

Görmemek yeğdir, görüb divâne olmakdan seni

It is better not to see you than seeing and being crazy for you.

                                                      Sâbit

Biz âleme bir yâr içün âh itmeğe geldik

We came to this world only to sigh for a beloved.

                                  Yenişehirli Avni

Yavuz is my favourite.

Yes, he is great.

Şeyhi:

“Bâtıl isteyü hakdan ayrıldım 

Boynuz umdum kulaktan ayrıldım." 

I wanted lies, I lost the truth

I wanted a horn, I lost the ear.

Ahmet Paşa:

“Etme izhâr-ı hüner etmeğe mecliste heves

Bülbüle dâm-ı belâ oldu lisânıyla kafes."

Don´t desire showing a talent in a gathering

Cage became a trap for nightingale because of its sweet tongue

“Tûtîyi güftârıdır iden giriftâr-ı kafes." 

It is sparrow´s words makes it a captive of a cage.

Adli (Sultan II. Beyazıd)

“Kendi kendine ettiğin âdem

Bir yere gelse edemez âlem..

If everbody gathered and wanted to harm someone they wouldn´t harm him as much as he harmed himself

Selimi (Yavuz Sultan Selim)

“Milletimde ayrılık ve tefrika endîşesi

Kûşe-i kabrimde hattâ bî-karâr eyler beni.”

The worry of seperation and disagreement in my nation

(It) even would make me restless in the corner of my tomb

Fuzuli

“Ger derse Fuzûlî ki güzellerde vefâ var

Aldanma ki şâir sözü elbette yalandır."

If Fuzuli says beautifuls have loyalty

Don´t be deceived, the word of a poet is of course a lie.

I read this poem today and liked it. It is believed that it was written for Shah İsmail by Yavuz Sultan Selim after he had beaten him in battlefield. If you read same colored words, you will read the same lines in an order. We call this style "chess style"

Sanma şahım /herkesi sen / sadıkane / yar olur
Herkesi sen / dost mu sandın / belki ol / ağyar olur
Sadıkane / belki ol / alemde bir / dildar olur
Yar olur / ağyar olur / dildar olur / serdar olur "

Yavuz Sultan Selim

My shah, don´t think everyone is a loyal friend

Did you think everyone was friend, maybe they were enemies.

Maybe there is only one loyal beloved in this universe

There is friend, there is enemy, there is beloved, there is commander.

Erbâb-ı kemâli çekemez nâkıs olanlar;

Rencîde olur dîde-i huffâş ziyâdan.

İgnorants can´t endure wises

Light hurts the eyes of bats.

Her âkile bir derd bu âlemde mukarrer,

Râhat yaşamış var mı gürûh-ı ukalâdan!

There is always a trouble for the wise

Has any wise person ever lived in comfort?

                                       Ziya Paşa (1825-1888)

Kıl san‘at-ı üstâdı tahayyürle temâşâ,

Dem urma, eğer ârif isen çûn ü çirâdan.

Watch the art of Master with amazement

Don´t ask why or how if you are wise.

İdrâk-i me‘âlî bu küçük akla gerekmez,

Zîrâ bu terâzû o kadar sıkleti çekmez.

This small mind doesn´t need to understand it

Because this scales can´t weigh that much weight.

                                           Ziya Paşa

I love these couplets a lot.

uyan ey gözlerim gafletten uyan
uyan ey uykusu çok gozlerim uyan
azrailin kastı canadır inan
uyan ey gözlerim gafletten uyan
uyan ey uykusu çok gozlerim uyan

semavatın kapılarını açarlar

alemlere rahmet suyu saçarlar
seherde kalkana hulle biçerler
uyan ey gözlerim gaflletten uyan
uyan uykusu çok gözlerim uyan

                                  Sultan III. Murad

Wake up my eyes, wake up from absentmindness

Wake up o my sleepy eyes, wake up

Azrael´s intention is to take life, believe me.

Wake up my eyes, wake up from absentmindness

Wake up o my sleepy eyes, wake up

They open the gates of heavens

They spill the water of mercy to universe

They tailor cloth of heaven for who wakes up in the morning

Wake up my eyes, wake up from absentmindness

Wake up o my sleepy eyes, wake up

This poem was written by Sultan III. Murad after he had missed the morning prayer. It was composed by Ali Ufku Bey. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGyfAszzdbQ   Great, relaxing song.

Note. Unfortunately my eyes hasn´t still woken up

No wonder. Üçüncü Murad was a drunkard with a red nose.

It doesn´t lessen his acchievements as a poet, though.

What I feel is that all of these things that I hold dear

never become more than vibrations in the air.... 

.." .........Güzelim Ey, Güzelim Ey, Güzelim ey ey......... .." .. 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLfIx54GSEE

Gokuyum, senin thread görsel bir boyut da kazanmış oldu. Geçmiş olsun kardeşim.

Şiirler aşka getirdi zahir

Sorma hocam. Ne yapalım? Yeter ki sevenler kavuşsun

 Kendi kendine ettiğin âdem

Bir yere gelse edemez âlem.. 

Ayé......Güzal...

Ama iyi gelir zaman.

Umut değil mi, Goku ?  

Sigh....My Sultan Faruk...seviyorum ama... şok sinirli ve...

if anyone leaves us in the dust Goku, we have Allah! At most! 

Only For A Modern Sultan, here...

maybe one day ´i´ will get better...

Did everyone lose faith in me but Allah & ´i´?

O Allah... You are Our Padişah, please Allah give me the You in youknowwho....

GAZEL

My pain for thee balm in my sight resembles;
Thy face’s beam the clear moonlight resembles.
Thy black hair spread across they cheeks, the roses,
O Liege, the garden’s basil quite resembles.
Beside thy lip oped wide its mouth, the rosebud;
For shame it blushed, it blood outright resembles.
Thy mouth, a casket fair of pearls and rubies,
Thy teeth, pearls, thy lip coral bright resembles.
Their diver I, each morning and each even;
My weeping, Liege, the ocean’s might resembles.
Lest he seduce thee, this my dread and terror,
That rival who Iblis in spite resembles.
Around the taper bright, thy cheek, Muhibbi
Turns, and the moth in his sad plight resembles.

Sultan Soleiman, the Magnificent (1520-1566).


GAZEL

Thy veil raise, shake from cheeks those locks of thine then;
Unclouded beauty’s sun and moon bid shine then.
But one glance from those soft and drooping eyes throw,
The heart through joy to drunkenness consign then.
Were I thy lip to suck, ’twould heal the sick heart;
Be kind, an answer give, Physician mine, then.
Beware lest evil glance thy beauty’s rose smite,
From ill-eyed rival careful it confine then.
O heart, this is Life’s Water ’midst of darkness,
In night’s gloom hidden, drink the ruby wine then.
My love’s down grows upon her rosy-hued cheek,
A book write on the woes it does enshrine then.
Thy wine-hued lip, O love, grant to Selimi —
And by thy parting’s shaft my tears make wine then.

Sultan Selim II. (1524-1574).

Source: Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East - Vol 06 - Medieval Arabic, Mourish and Turkish

It is really normal. You are crazy, he is not.

 {Post # 40--A new beginning. }

Well that´s obvious, however ojala how i wish he was crazy too.

He won´t let me make him crazy...won´t let his soul alight with

that understanding yet. People need to understand this, it cannot be taught.

energy cannot be generated via komputer...

1.‘Âşık-ı zâruñ kimi mehcûr-ı bezm-i dil-rübâ 

   Kiminüñ bâr-ı gam-ı agyâr ile kaddi dü-tâ 

Ağlayan aşıkların kimi gönül alan sevgilinin meclisinden men edilmiş

Kiminin rakiplerinin verdiği gamın yükü ile boyu iki büklüm olmuş

Some of the crying lovers are banned from the gathering of beloved

Some of them are bent double because of the weight of the sorrows given by rivals

2.Kısmet olaldan cihâne mihnet ü derd ü belâ 

   Her kişi bir gamda herkes bir belâya mübtelâ 

Cihana sıkıntı, dert ve bela kısmet olalı beri

Her kişi bir gamda herkes bir belaya mübtela.

Since hardship, trouble and calamity has appeared in world

Everybody has been in a trouble and grief-stricken 

3.Kande bir gam yârsız kalsa benümle yâr olur 

   Bir belâ kim sâhibin bulmaz baña gam-hâr olur

Nerde bir gam yarsız kalsa benimle yar olur

Bir bela ki sahibini bulmaz bana sıkıntı verir

When a trouble can´t find a friend, it becomes my friend

When a calamity can´t find its owner, it gives me trouble.

                       Nevî´zâde Atâyî [ Dikkat! Gönderme var ]

Dest-i kudretle yoğ iken âlemi var eyledün
Kimisini Müslim kılıp kimini küffâr eyledün

When the universe didn´t exist, you created it with the hand of might

You have made some people muslim, some people infidels


Hardan güller bitürdün nahlden hurma-yı ter
İbret içün kullarına hikmet izhâr eyledün

You have made roses grow from thorns, fresh dates from date palms

You have showed your wisdom to believers for them to take lessons.

 

Kimine virdün bihişt ü hil´at ü tâc ü kemer
Kiminün yerin cehennem menzilin nâr eyledün

You have given some people heaven, rob of honor, crown and belt

You have made some people´s place hell, their inn fire.

Kiminin kaddini kıldın serv ü ar´ardan yüce

Gözleri yaşın kiminin  cû-yı enhâr eyledin

You have made some people taller than cypress and juniper

You have made some people´s tears like the rivers

Rûzu rûşen eyledin emrinle gün etdi tulû´

Geceyi encümler  ile zeyn edip târ eyledin

You have made day bright, by your order sun has risen

You have decorated night with stars and made it dark

Güller ile gül-şen içre hârı kıldın hem-nişîn

Geceler tâ subha dek bülbülleri zâr eyledin

You have made roses and thorns sit together in rose-garden

You have made nighingales cry from night to morning.

Zâhide erzâni kıldın Kevser ü hûr u behişt

Bu Muhibbi bendeni müştâk-ı dîdâr eyledin

You have made Kevser, houris and heaven worthy for conservatives

You have made your servant Muhibbi desirous of your face.

                                                Muhibbi (Magnificent Suleiman)

You have made some people sign death sentences with one hand

and write sentimental poems with the other.

You have made some men conquer endless lands

and fall on their knees in front of one lady.

There is goodness in everybody.