Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ'îlün Mefâ'îlün Mefâ'îlün Mefâ'îlün

Ṣalaldan 'âleme pertev cemâlüñ mihri ey meh-rü
Mu'attar ider âfâkı müdâm ol zülf-i 'anber bû
Hevâ-yı 'ârızuñ âbı irerse gönlüme bir dem
Gözümün âbı mevc urup akar nite ki taşgun ṣu
Beni gam bahrine salsa saçuñ sevdâları dilden
Sevâd-ı zülf-i müşgînüñ getürür başuma kaygu
Ne sihr olur 'aceb bu kim nigârâ zülfün ucından
Zemândur gice vü gündüz gözüme düş olur uyhu
Kıya bakışlaruñ cânâ Harîmîyi döne döne
Yakar hecr odına her dem ol iki gamze câdû

In English

1. O moon-faced one, ever since the sun of your beauty cast its light upon the world, your ambergris-scented locks have perfumed the horizons without cease.

2. If the passion for the water of your cheek reaches my heart for a moment, the water of my eye surges and flows like a flood.

3. If the passions of your hair cast me heart and all into the sea of sorrow, the blackness of your musky locks brings care upon my head.

4. O beauty, what a wondrous spell it is that, because of the tip of your locks, for so long sleep has been no more than a dream to my eyes by night and day.

5. O soul, your sidelong looks, those two sorcerer glances, burn Harîmî over and over in the fire of separation every moment.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

It is a ghazal of five couplets. The metre is the long hezec pattern of four Mefâ'îlün feet. There is no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is the "-u, -û" of "meh-rü, 'anber bû, ṣu, kaygu, uyhu, câdû". The prayer in the heading is "Eskenellâhü fi'l-cinân" (may God settle him in His gardens). In the digital text a couplet rhyming in "-âneye" ("Baña ne mülk-i cihân...") fell just below the heading; by its rhyme and the numbering it belongs to Ghazal 32 and is given there. 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 moves among images of sun, water and night. In the first couplet the beloved's beauty is the sun and the locks the scent of ambergris; sunlight and scent together fill every horizon. In the second couplet the water of the cheek, that is its brightness, is set against the water of the eye, that is tears; there is a play between these two senses of "âb". In the third couplet "sevâd" means both blackness and melancholy passion. In old medicine sevda was known as an illness caused by black bile, so the blackness of the locks becomes a passion that brings care upon the lover's head. In the fourth couplet the locks are like night, but this night brings the lover no sleep; sleep is for him only a dream, an unreachable fancy. The doubling "döne döne" (turning and turning) in the last couplet is one of the repetitions Kılıç notes in Harîmî and also conveys burning while turning in the fire. The glances are sorcerers; it is their spell that burns the lover in the fire of separation.

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

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