Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef'ûlü Mefâ'îlü Mefâ'îlü Fe'ûlün

Misk itse özin hâlüñe nisbet 'aceb olmaz
Çün ellere düşeşde igende edep olmaz
Gülzâr-ı ruhun bâğ-ı cinân olsa 'aceb mi
'İnâb-ı lebüñ gibi cihanda rutab olmaz
Şimşâd ne yüz ile sana öykine ey dost
Kaddi özün olmak ṣanemâ bî-sebeb olmaz
Uzatma igeñ zülfüñi ey cân yüzün üzre
Kim bâğ-ı cinândur ebeden anda şeb olmaz
Cevr eyleme kûyuñda Harîmîye ki Hakkâ
Cennetde kimesneye 'ıtâb u ta'ab olmaz

In English

1. It is no wonder if musk likens itself to your mole. The second line is corrupt in the digital text; following the form in the anthology of Edirneli Nazmî the meaning is: in what has passed through many hands there is no shame and no decorum.

2. Is it any wonder if the rose garden of your cheek is the garden of paradise; there are no fresh dates in the world like the grapes of your lips.

3. My friend, with what face does the boxwood imitate you; O beauty, its claim to be your stature is not without reason. The couplet is not entirely clear; this reading is ours.

4. O soul, do not let your locks reach too far over your face; for your face is the garden of paradise, and there is never night there.

5. Do not torment Harîmî in your street; truly, in paradise no one meets with reproach or hardship.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

It is a ghazal of five couplets. The metre is the hezec pattern Mef'ûlü Mefâ'îlü Mefâ'îlü Fe'ûlün. The redif (refrain word) is "olmaz" (there is not), and the rhyme is the "-eb, -ab" of "'aceb, edeb, rutab, sebeb, şeb, ta'ab". The prayer in the heading is "Nâle mâ temennâhü" (may he attain what he wished). In the digital text the word "'İnâb" in the second couplet came out as "'lnâb" and "bî-sebeb" in the third as "bl-sebeb"; both have been corrected. The second line of the opening couplet ("Çün ellere düşeşde igende edep olmaz") has been left as it stands, since its correct form is not known for certain. The "Kûs-ı rıhlet" couplet that stands in the text just below the heading belongs, by its rhyme, to Ghazal 13 and is given there. The letters ṣ (sad) and s̱ (se), which came out as ş in the digital text, have been restored according to the original spelling of the words. The poet's life, works and the state of the Dîvânçe are discussed in Şehzade Korkut (Harîmî): Literary Persona, Works and Poems.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The main line of the ghazal is the likening of the beloved's face and street to paradise. In the second couplet the rose garden of the cheek is the garden of paradise, and the lips are compared with grapes and fresh dates, the fruits of paradise. In the fourth couplet the locks spreading over the face are imagined as the coming of night; since there is no night in paradise, the locks are asked not to spread. In the last couplet the beloved's street is paradise too, and since no one meets reproach or hardship in paradise, Harîmî ought not to be tormented. A point of belief is thus turned into an argument in the lover's favour. In the opening couplet musk is likened to the black mole for its scent and colour. The second line as given by Nazmî presents the lack of decorum of a thing sold from hand to hand, like musk, as the reason for its daring to make the comparison. In the third couplet the boxwood is one of the trees which, like the cypress, are likened to the beloved's stature in divan poetry.

Historical Context

According to Kılıç's note the opening couplet of the ghazal is also found in Edirneli Nazmî's nazire anthology Mecma'u'n-Nezâ'ir (fol. 158a), where it reads "Müşk itse özin hâlüme nisbet aceb olmaz / Çok ellere düşmişde hayâ vü edeb olmaz". In this form the first line reads "hâlüme" (to my state) instead of "hâlüñe" (to your mole), and the second line gains a clear meaning. The inclusion of the ghazal in a nazire anthology shows that it was read on the same ground as the poems of other poets.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Harîmî (Şehzade Korkut), Dîvânçe, Millet Library, Ali Emîrî, Manzum Eserler nr. 104.

Academic studies

  • Filiz Kılıç, "Osmanlı Hanedanında Bir Şair: Şehzade Korkut", Bilig (Ahmet Yesevi Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi), 2, Summer 1996, pp. 203–219 (Dîvânçe text pp. 209–218; ghazal 11, p. 211). teis.yesevi.edu.tr

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