Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ol ṣanavber kad münevver had ki yârümdür benüm
Hâṣılıdur 'ömrümün 'âlemde varumdur benüm
Şol kadar taş urdı hicrüñ başuma kim haşre dek
Ol belâ taşı ki dâr-ı seng mezârumdur benüm
Gam beni pâ-bend ider zülfün hevâsına uyup
Bunca demdür kim husûsâ eski yârümdür benüm
Bu dimâğ-ı 'âlemi kılan mu'attar her nefes
Ol mu'anber zülf ü ol müşk-i tatârumdur benüm
Bu Harîmî keşf-i râz itmezdi halka âh kim
Sırrı fâş iden bu çeşm-i eşk-bârumdur benüm

In English

1. That pine-tall, bright-cheeked beloved who is my love is the harvest of my life and all I have in the world.

2. Separation has struck my head with so many stones that until the Day of Judgement that stone of affliction is my gravestone. The form of the line in the text ("dâr-ı seng mezârumdur") is doubtful; the meaning is given according to this reading.

3. Sorrow, following the passion for your locks, keeps my feet in fetters; for so long sorrow has been, above all, my old companion.

4. That ambergris-scented lock, that Tatar musk of mine, perfumes the nostrils of the world with every breath.

5. This Harîmî would not have revealed his secret to people; alas, it is this weeping eye of mine that betrays my secret.

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 mîm of the Arabic alphabet. The metre is the remel pattern Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilün. The redif (refrain word) is "-dur benüm" (is mine), and the rhyme is formed by the "-âr" of "yâr, var, mezâr, yâr, tatâr, eşk-bâr" followed by the suffix "-um". The rhyme "yârümdür" recurs in the first and third couplets. The word "zülf" in the fourth couplet came out in the digital text as "züif". 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 "is mine" turns the ghazal into a language of possession: the beloved is the harvest of life and one's only wealth, the stone of affliction is a gravestone, sorrow is an old companion, and tears are a traitor who betrays the secret. In the first couplet the beloved's stature is likened to the pine and the cheek to a bright light. In the second the stones thrown by separation turn into the lover's gravestone, an image of a love that ends in death. In the third, sorrow binds the lover's feet with the passion for the locks; "old companion" is bitter irony, for the lover's oldest and most loyal friend is sorrow. In the fourth the beloved's locks fill the whole world with scent like ambergris and Tatar musk; musk is named after the Tatar and Khotan lands of Central Asia from which it came. The last couplet says that it is not the lover but his tears that betray his secret, so the fault of failing to keep the secret is laid on the eyes.

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 21, p. 213). teis.yesevi.edu.tr

Books