Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilün

Ṣubh-dem yil gibi yilüp 'azm-i yâr itsem gerek
Yüz süriyü işüginde cân nis̱âr itsem gerek
Dil saçı sevdâsına tolaşdı çünkim ol mehün
Cân virüp bu kâr u bârı târumar itsem gerek
Sihr ile câdü gözi cân mülkini idüp harâb
'Işkınun bünyâdını ben üstüvâr itsem gerek
Zülfünün câdüsına meyl itdi mi şehbâz-ı dil
Ol hümâyı yine ben peşşe şikâr itsem gerek
Ol mehün mihrin 'alem gibi nişân itmek içün
Sırr-ı 'ışkını cihâne âşikâr itsem gerek
Bu Harîmî zühd ü takvâya kadem baṣmak içün
'Işk yolında melâmet ihtiyâr itsem gerek

In English

1. At dawn I must rush like the wind toward the beloved; I must rub my face at the threshold and scatter my soul.

2. Since the heart has become entangled in passion for that moon-faced one's hair, I must give my life and scatter all these affairs to the winds.

3. The sorcerer eye has laid waste the kingdom of the soul with its magic; I must make firm the foundation of that love.

4. Has the falcon of the heart inclined to the beloved's bewitching locks; then I must hunt that huma bird like a gnat. The couplet can be read in two ways: as a claim to achieve the impossible, or as a jest on the smallness of what the heart has fallen for.

5. To display the love of that moon to everyone like a banner, I must reveal the secret of that love to the world.

6. This Harîmî, so as to set foot on asceticism and piety, must choose blame (melâmet) on the path of love.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

It is a ghazal of six couplets. The metre is the remel pattern Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilün. The redif (refrain word) is "itsem gerek" (I must do), and the rhyme is the "-âr" of "yâr, nis̱âr, târumar, üstüvâr, şikâr, âşikâr, ihtiyâr". The prayer in the heading is "E'lallâhü derecâtehü" (may God raise his rank). Three faults in the digital text have been corrected after Kılıç's transcription in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü: "Ṣubh-dem" for "Şubb-dem" in the first couplet, "meyl" for "meyi" in the fourth and "Sırr-ı" for "Ser-i" in the fifth. Kılıç placed this ghazal in that dictionary as one of the four examples she chose from the Dîvânçe; there the fourth couplet reads "meyl itdügi" and the second "târmâr". 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 redif "itsem gerek" turns every couplet into a sentence of resolve or necessity and gives the ghazal a determined voice. In the first couplet the lover who runs to the beloved like the dawn wind offers his soul at the threshold as a gift to be scattered. In the third couplet, against the kingdom of the soul laid waste by the sorcerer eye, the lover undertakes to strengthen the foundation of love; there is a contrast between destroying and building. In the fourth couplet the heart is a falcon and the beloved the legendary huma bird believed to bring good fortune; hunting the huma like a gnat is a deliberate hyperbole. In the fifth couplet "mihr" means both love and sun and "alem" a banner; naming moon and sun together forms a tenasüp (congruence of images). The melâmet of the last couplet is a Sufi path that counsels escaping hypocrisy by making oneself blameworthy in the eyes of the people. Reaching asceticism by way of blame expresses a view that rejects the outward display of piety.

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 18, p. 212). teis.yesevi.edu.tr

Books