Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilün

Sen cefâ-pişe yine cevr u cefâdan geçemez
Bi-riyâdur bu gönül mihr ü vefadan geçemez
Dil nice gamzeñ ile kaşuña eyleye nigâh
Tapuna geçmege ol ok ile yâdan geçemez
'Ârızuñ âbı kenârında beñüñ Hindileri
Gülşen-i hüsnüñi seyr itmege mâdan geçemez
Geyüben şâl u 'abâ tapuna geldi çü rakib
Gösterür zühdi veli kalbi riyadan geçemez
Gözlerüm yaşın akıdup veli odlara yakar
Başına toprak anuñçün bu hevâdan geçemez
Başuma kılmış imiş 'ışkuñı takdir-i ezel
Bu Harîmî ṣanemâ hükm-i Hudâdan geçemez

In English

1. You are cruel by nature and again cannot give up tyranny and cruelty; this heart is without hypocrisy and cannot give up love and faithfulness.

2. How can the heart look upon your brow because of your glance; to pass into your presence it cannot get past that arrow and that bow.

3. The Indians of your moles on the bank of the water of your cheek cannot cross the water to gaze on the rose garden of your beauty.

4. The rival put on a shawl and a cloak and came into your presence; he shows his piety, but his heart cannot get past hypocrisy.

5. My eyes shed their tears and yet burn in fires; earth upon its head, for that reason it cannot give up this passion.

6. O beauty, the decree of eternity, it seems, wrote your love upon my head; this Harîmî cannot escape the judgement of God.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

It is a ghazal of six couplets. The metre is the remel pattern Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilün. The redif (refrain word) is "-dan geçemez" (cannot pass, cannot give up), and the rhyme is the "-â" of "cefâ, vefâ, yâ, mâ, riyâ, hevâ, Hudâ". The prayer in the heading is "Es'adallâhü fi'l-cinân" (may God make him happy in the gardens of paradise). The verb "geçmek" in the redif is used in two senses throughout the ghazal: to give something up, and to pass over to the other side. 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 first couplet sets beloved and lover against each other: the beloved cannot give up cruelty, the lover cannot give up faithfulness. In the second and third couplets "geçmek" now means to get past an obstacle. The brow is a bow (yâ) and the glance an arrow; the heart that wants to come into the presence cannot get past this arrow and bow. In the third couplet the moles are likened to Indians for their black colour, and the brightness of the cheek is water (mâ); the Indians standing on the bank cannot cross that water to reach the rose garden. In the fourth couplet the rival is drawn as a two-faced zealot who looks pious in a shawl and a cloak. The fifth couplet brings together the four elements of the ancients: tears (water), od (fire), earth and hevâ (air). Here "hevâ" means both air and passion, desire. In the last couplet all this helplessness is tied to the decree of eternity; love is written on the lover's forehead, and there is no escape from God's judgement.

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 12, p. 211). teis.yesevi.edu.tr

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