Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Dökmege kanum kadem baṣdukca cânânum benüm
Hayr-ı makdem nakş ider peşmâğına kanum benüm
Sâye-veş yanınca ben üftâdesinden 'âr ider
Gün gibi tenhâ yürür ol mâh-ı tâbânum benüm
Dinmese bir dem n'ola bârân-ı eşküm dostum
İki merdüm gark idüpdür çeşm-i giryânum benüm
Kaṣd-ı cân idüp ele tîg alsa hûnî gözlerüñ
'Âşık-ı dil-hasteler eydür koma cânum benüm
Ey Harîmî rakṣ uram tâ haşr olınca şevkden
Bendesin zülfine dar eylerse sultânum benüm

In English

1. Whenever my beloved steps forward to shed my blood, my blood embroiders "welcome" on the beloved's slipper.

2. Though I walk beside the beloved like a shadow, that shining moon is ashamed of me, the fallen one, and walks alone like the sun.

3. What matter if the rain of my tears never ceases for a moment, my friend; my weeping eye has drowned its two pupils.

4. If your bloodthirsty eyes take up a sword with intent on my life, the heartsick lovers say, "do not spare me, my soul".

5. O Harîmî, if my sultan hangs this servant on the gallows of the locks, I will dance for joy until the Day of Judgement.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

It is a ghazal of five couplets. The metre is the remel pattern Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilün. The redif (refrain word) is "-um benüm" (my ... of mine), and the rhyme is the "-ân" of "cânân, kan, tâbân, giryân, cân, sultân". The prayer in the heading is "Tâbe s̱erâhû" (may his earth be fragrant). 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

In the first couplet the beloved's bloodied slipper becomes a piece of embroidery. "Hayr-ı makdem" (blessed arrival) is a phrase of welcome; even the lover's spilt blood greets the beloved so. In the second couplet a contrast is drawn between shadow and sun: the lover wants to follow like a shadow, but the moon-faced beloved walks alone like the sun, for the sun casts no shadow. In the third couplet the word "merdüm" means both a person and the pupil of the eye; the rain of tears has drowned the two pupils, that is, two people, which is a tevriye (double entendre). In the fourth the lovers, faced with the beloved's sword-drawing eyes, ask for death instead of protecting their lives. In the last couplet the locks are a gallows. The swaying of the hanged man is likened to dancing, and the lover accepts this death as a joy. In divan poetry this image also recalls Hallâc-ı Mansûr, who was hanged for saying "I am the Truth". Calling the beloved "my sultan" shows that the ghazal casts love as the bond of a servant and a ruler.

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

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