Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

'Âşık oldum ol cemâle esridüm hemçün cemel
Sekrden hergiz ifâkat bulmağa yok muhtemel
Bulmadı çünkim tabîbân derd-i 'ışkıma 'ilâç
Vaṣl-ı hürşîde gözedür oldı cân burc-ı hamel
Gam degül ey 'âşıkân cem'-i melâmetdür ṣala
'Âşıkuñ nâmüsına rüsvâyıluk virmez halel
Derd-i 'ışkuñdan şu deñlü akdı eşküm kalmadı
Hücre-i çeşmüm sulamağa kabagumda belel
Ey Harîmî Ka'be-i kûyı harîmi râhına
Baṣ kadem muhkem hazer kıl virmeye kimse zelel

In English

1. I fell in love with that beauty and lost myself like a camel in rut; there is no chance at all that I will sober up from this drunkenness.

2. When the physicians found no cure for the pain of my love, the soul watched for the sign of Aries in order to reach the sun.

3. O lovers, there is no sorrow; this is a call to the company of melâmet; disgrace does no harm to a lover's honour.

4. From the pain of your love my tears flowed so much that no moisture is left in my eyelid to water the chamber of my eye.

5. O Harîmî, on the way to the sacred precinct (harîm) of that street which is like the Kaaba, step firmly and beware; let no one stumble.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

It is a ghazal of five couplets and the only example among the poems ending in the letter lâm of the Arabic alphabet. The metre is the remel pattern Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilün. There is no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is the "-el" of "cemel, muhtemel, hamel, halel, belel, zelel". In the digital text the pen name in the last couplet came out as "Marîmî" and the word "muhkem" as "mubkem"; both have been corrected. 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 ghazal describes the lover's state of lost reason through images of animals and stars. In the first couplet "cemel" (camel) recalls the camel that loses itself in the rutting season. In the second "hamel" is the sign of Aries; the sun enters this sign in spring, and by the old belief spring is the season of healing. For a pain the physicians could not cure, the soul awaits union with the sun, that is, the beloved. There is also a tenasüp (congruence of images) between camel and ram. In the third couplet the lovers are called to the company of melâmet with the word "ṣala" (summons); that disgrace does not harm the lover's honour states the heart of the idea of melâmet. The word "kabak" in the fourth couplet means eyelid and conveys that the tears have run dry. The last couplet is the most striking in the ghazal. The poet makes a pun between his own pen name Harîmî and "harîm", the name of the sacred precinct around the Kaaba. The beloved's street becomes the Kaaba, and the road to it a pilgrim's road to be walked without stumbling.

Historical Context

The meaning of the pen name is debated in the sources. The Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü says that it came from his intention to visit the Holy Sanctuary (Harem-i Şerif). Emecen, relying on Latîfî, writes that the prince used this pen name because he entered the state of ritual consecration (ihram) when he went to Egypt with the intention of pilgrimage. The meeting of the words "Harîmî" and "harîm" in one couplet shows that the poet used his pen name in connection with the sacred precinct of the Kaaba. When the pen name was taken, however, cannot be inferred from this couplet.

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 20, p. 213). teis.yesevi.edu.tr
  • Feridun Emecen, "Korkut, Şehzade", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 26, Ankara 2002, pp. 205–207. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/korkut-sehzade

Books

Online sources