Religion

Cruel Tyranny We Love Not

by 'Adlî (Sultan Mehmed III) d. 1603

Translated by E. J. W. Gibb (1882) · From Ottoman Poems (1882)

Religion

Cruel tyranny we love not, nay, to justice we incline;
Full contentedly our eyes wait for the blest command divine.

Know we truly, for a mirror, world-reflecting, is our heart;
Yet conceive not us to Fortune's ever-changeful ways supine.

To the rule of God submissive, all concern we cast aside;
We indeed on Him confiding, on His providence recline.

Shall our heart anoint its eye then with the kuhl of Isfahan?
Pleased it with this tûtyâ: dust that doth the Fair One's pathway line.

Since our heart, 'Adlî, within Love's crucible was purified,
'Midst the universe, from guile and guilt free, bright our soul doth shine.

✦ ✦ ✦

Gazel.

MLA

'Adlî (Sultan Mehmed III). “Cruel Tyranny We Love Not.” Translated by E. J. W. Gibb. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/sultan-mehmed-iii/0/.

Chicago

'Adlî (Sultan Mehmed III). “Cruel Tyranny We Love Not.” Translated by E. J. W. Gibb. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/sultan-mehmed-iii/0/.

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