Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Nâṣıhâ nuṣhuñ es̱er itmez bana şimdengirü
Ben harâbât ehline virdüm rızâ şimdengirü
Bûy-ı zülf-i yâr âfâkı mu'attar eyledi
Ey ṣabâ lâzım degül müşk-ı Hıtâ şimdengirü
Yâr ile ağyâr çünkim bir yaña olmış durur
Ey ecel biz de olalum bir yana şimdengirü
Hübluk rahmi tarîki sende olmışdur temâm
Gelmeye mis̱lüñ cihâna dilberâ şimdengirü
Ol tabîb-i cân Harîmî hastesin yâd eylemez
Ey ecel bâri hekîm ol kıl devâ şimdengirü

In English

1. O counsellor, from now on your advice has no effect on me; from now on I have given my consent to the people of the tavern.

2. The scent of the beloved's locks has perfumed the horizons; O morning breeze, from now on there is no need of the musk of Cathay.

3. Since the beloved and the rival have gone over to one side, O death, from now on let us too stand on the other side.

4. The path of mercy in beauty has been completed in you; O heart-stealer, from now on no one like you will come into the world.

5. That physician of the soul does not remember his patient Harîmî; O death, at least you be the physician and from now on bring him a cure.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

It is a ghazal of five couplets and the first of the poems ending in the letter vâv of the Arabic alphabet. The metre is the remel pattern Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilün. The redif (refrain word) is "şimdengirü" (from now on), and the rhyme is the "-â, -a" of "rızâ, Hıtâ, yana, dilberâ, devâ". 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 "şimdengirü" makes every couplet a turning point: from now on no advice will be heeded, no musk sought, and the lover will go over to the side of death. In the first couplet the people of the tavern, the rinds who care nothing for the order of the world, are chosen over the counsellor. In divan poetry harabat (the tavern) is the name of a sincere and unpretentious way of life set against ascetic display. In the second couplet Cathay (Hıtâ) is the Central Asian land where the musk deer lives; since the beloved's locks fill all horizons with scent, the breeze no longer needs to bring musk from there. In the third couplet, when beloved and rival take one side, the lover crosses with death to the other; death here is the lover's only ally. The last couplet completes the thought: when the beloved, the physician of the soul, forgets his patient, the lover calls on death to be the physician. Asking for death as a cure is the ghazal's bitterest invention, and the repetition of the word "ecel" (death) in two couplets prepares the close.

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 28, p. 214). teis.yesevi.edu.tr

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