Nightingale (Poem)

Nightingale, Mehmed Âkif Ersoy’s poem composed during the National Struggle period, reflects the historical, social, and psychological atmosphere of the era. Written in response to the Greek occupation of Bursa, the poem reveals the poet’s emotions and thoughts through the image of the nightingale and depictions of nature, while also expressing the pain and destruction inflicted upon the nation by the occupation.

^{Mehmet Akif Ersoy} (Sahafat)

The poem, included in the seventh volume of the Safahat collection, was written in Ankara at the Taceddin Dergâhı in July 1920 following the Greek occupation of Bursa and published in the May 7, 1921 issue of the Sebilürreşad magazine. It is dedicated to Hasan Basri Çantay, deputy for Karesi (Balıkesir) (“Basri Bey, to our son”). The composition was strongly influenced by news coming from the occupied territories, particularly from Bursa.

^{Volume VII of Safahat Containing the Poem: Shadows} (Sahafat)

On July 8, 1920, the Greeks entered Bursa via Mudanya and occupied the city. Bursa, the first capital of the Ottoman Empire and home to sacred sites for six centuries, suffered severe destruction during this period. The tomb of Nilüfer Sultan was bombed and reduced to a ruined cemetery; bomb and gunfire echoed from minarets. The bombs thrown by Greek soldiers caused widespread noise and devastation in the city. The fact that Sophoklis, son of the then Greek Prime Minister Eleutherios Venizelos, posed in front of the Osman Gazi Türbesi was published in European press and recorded as a significant development highlighting the symbolic dimension of the event. ^【1】 This incident was perceived in public opinion of the time as a serious violation of reverence due to its occurrence at the tomb of the Ottoman state’s founding figure and the widespread dissemination of the images through the press. Orhan Gazi’s tomb also experienced similar desecrations: graves were trampled upon, and festivities were held beneath domes. Villages were burned, massacres were committed against the Muslim population; reports documented how local elites were forced to line up along Ulucami Street while their daughters were paraded before the soldiers’ arms. ^【2】 

The occupation of Bursa, due to its status as the Ottoman Empire’s first capital and the sacred sites it housed, left a profound impact on public opinion and collective memory of the era, opening a deep wound in the nation’s spiritual world. This event led to the adoption of a “black veil” policy in the TBMM and was announced in newspapers under the title “Unfortunate Bursa,” evoking an elegiac response in literature. ^【3】 

The note appended to the poem directly reveals its inspiration: “While writing this poem, distressing news arrived from our lands under Greek occupation, especially from Bursa; there was no opportunity to verify them." ^【4】 

Eşref Edib, who was also at the Taceddin Dergâhı in Ankara during the same period, confirmed this note with the following words: “The Master, while writing this poem at the Taceddin Dergâhı (May 9, 1337), learned that the Greek army was burning Muslim villages near Yalova and Gemlik, firing into homes filled with women and children in İzmit, and cutting off the noses and ears of many Muslims. Gonaris, in his statements published in British newspapers, declared: ‘We are waging a crusade!’ ^【5】 This testimony reveals the brutality of the news reaching the poet during those days.

^{Mehmet Akif During the Occupation Years} (Safahat)

Mehmed Âkif Ersoy internalized the situation with profound emotional sensitivity and expressed it in his work. The poem “Nightingale,” composed in tears while he was at the Taceddin Dergâhı in Ankara, was completed in a single night. The poet wrote it under the weight of anguish over the occupation of Bursa, the spiritual shock caused by the TBMM’s adoption of the black veil, and his personal grief over the desecration of the homeland’s soil. According to Eşref Edib’s testimony, when Âkif recited the poem he was overcome with intense emotion, his complexion changed, and he entered a state of profound feeling. ^【6】 

- To Basri Bey’s son -

I have grown weary of the whole world, last night I was utterly exhausted;

At last, I wandered through fields and stayed in a village.

As I sought to flee the city, the waters had already turned dark;

A profound silence later wrapped the valley in darkness.

No light, no traveler, no sound—all creation fell mute...

Yet even this silence does not violate the sacredness of one breath.

I thought the world’s condition was the embodiment of humanity;

I turned back to the past, recalling sorrows, recalling all!

As I wandered, a thousand chains of memory surged from my mind,

A cry bursting from the chest of the oppressor,

That deep, still ecstasy suddenly stirred so fiercely:

That from the valley, everywhere, groans rose and echoed.

What piercing melodies, O Lord, what roaring waves were these:

Trees and stones trembled—as if it were the Day of Judgment!

– You have a mate, a nest, a spring that waits for you;

What is the purpose of summoning doomsdays, O nightingale, what is your grief?

You settled on emerald stone, established a celestial sovereignty;

Though the world’s land is trampled, your land shall never be.

Today a lush green valley, tomorrow a crimson rose garden,

You wander, your lady joyful, your soul joyful, the universe joyful.

If a barren ground demands it, perhaps your soul, free and wild,

All horizons, absolute realms, become your captive flight.

Not a cage; you cannot be confined—once you spread your wings—into the infinite;

Life’s most imagined purpose is freedom in this world.

Why then are your days shrouded in mourning?

Why does a single tear stir such turmoil in your breast?

No, mourning is not yours—it is mine:

For centuries, my horizons have never known what light is!

I have no share in consolation; my spring weeps in sorrow;

Today I am a homeless wanderer in my own homeland!

What shame: I am the faithless, bloodless child of the East,

I have trampled the West’s soil and risen as the heir of my ancestors!

As I pass through my dreams, my thoughts have become chaotic,

The land of Salahaddin al-Ayyubi and the Fatih.

What degradation: the bell tolls within Osman’s mind;

The call to prayer falls silent, the memory of the Lord vanishes from the air!

What sorrow: the most glorious past becomes a mirage;

Let those powers, those glories become ruins, become dust!

Let a collapsed dome remain from Yıldırım Han’s temple;

Let Orhan’s magnificent tomb be trampled by revelry!

What misery: the sanctuary of faith overturned, stone upon stone,

Let millions of displaced co-religionists now wander without shelter!

Let broken ladies twist in torment upon the ground;

Let thousands, hundreds of thousands of bodies lie strewn!

Let the uninvited wander through Islam’s harem-gâh...

This mourning is mine, O nightingale, silence—your grief is not this! ^【7】 

The poem is composed in the mesnevi form, following the hezec meter’s four-mefâîlün rhythm, and maintains couplet unity. The meter, rhyme, and sentence structure reflect a dense style, free from unnecessary embellishments (haşiv).

The poem consists of two main sections. The first section (approximately the first 26 lines) emphasizes natural imagery and aesthetic concerns. The second section directly describes the Greek atrocities in Bursa. The poet’s pessimistic mood is conveyed through artistic devices such as metaphor, allusion, and association centered on the nightingale image.

^{A Book Prepared in Memory of Akif. The Poem on the Cover: ‘His heart burned like a candle, because he chanted the national anthem/ Through every dark day that passed./ They cried out from one voice: ‘The Poet of the Nation, Akif, has gone.’}(Safahat)

In classical literature, the nightingale is a conventional motif, but in this work it assumes a function beyond its traditional meaning. Âkif does not use the nightingale as an abstract symbol of love; rather, he employs it as a concrete image confronting historical suffering. Thus, the nightingale acquires the roles of freedom, liberty, and protest, forming a bridge between the poet’s inner world and the nation’s catastrophe.

The valley, in its emerald green, represents the homeland, while darkness and silence reflect the gloom of occupation. The contrast between church bells and the call to prayer, the violation of the concepts of harem-gâh and nâ-mahrem, and the symbols of the crescent, flag, standard, mosque, and ecstasy all underscore the desecration of Islamic values. The poem invokes the glorious figures of the past (Salahaddin al-Ayyubi, Osman Gazi, Orhan Gazi, Yıldırım Bayezid, Fatih Sultan Mehmed) to contrast with the humiliation of the present.

^{The Funeral of Mehmet Akif Ersoy} (Sahafat)

The poem carries a pessimistic and tragic tone; unlike the Çanakkale Martyrs’ poem or the Independence March, it does not inspire victory or hope, but instead conveys the tragic emotion of disaster with intense lyricism. Âkif’s enlightened stance is evident here: in the face of the despair and hopelessness caused by occupation, he grounds his search for solace in national and religious values. In this respect, the poem stands as both a historical and value-centered work within modern Turkish poetry.