Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ayaguñ toprağına öykündigiçün tütiyâ
İrişüp anı dozıtdı dostum bâd-ı ṣabâ
Hattuña nisbet benefşe dostum yüz karası
Çeşmüñe nergis nazîr olmak senüñ 'ayn-ı hatâ
Secde kılmazdı ṣurâhi ayağına sâğaruñ
Görmese ebrülaruñ 'aksini meyde sâkiyâ
Tâze tâze dâğlar yakdum görenler cismümi
Bir pelengüñ postını giydi ṣanurlar bir gedâ
Ey Harîmî 'âşıkuñ göñlin perîşân it deyu
Ol nigâruñ zülfini tahrik ider bâd-ı ṣabâ

In English

1. My friend, because the collyrium (tûtiyâ) aspired to resemble the dust of your feet, the morning breeze arrived, turned it to dust and scattered it.

2. My friend, to be likened to the down on your cheek is a disgrace for the violet; for the narcissus to claim to resemble your eye is error itself.

3. O cupbearer, had the flask not seen the reflection of your brows in the wine, it would not have bowed in prostration at the foot of the cup.

4. I have burned fresh brands (dağ) on my body; those who see it think a beggar has put on a leopard's skin.

5. O Harîmî, the morning breeze stirs the locks of that beauty so as to scatter the lover's heart.

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. There is no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is the "-â" of "tütiyâ, sabâ, hatâ, sâkiyâ, gedâ". The word "sabâ" is used as a rhyme in both the opening and the closing couplet. The prayer at the head of the poem is "Revvahallâhü rûhahü" (may God gladden his soul). Kılıç cites the repetition "Tâze tâze" in the fourth couplet as an example of Harîmî's way of building harmony through repeated words. The word "dozıtdı" in the first couplet has been left as it stands in the text; it has been read as a spelling of the verb "tozıtmak" (to reduce to dust). 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 is built on the humbling of nature's beauties before the beauty of the beloved. Tûtiyâ is a collyrium applied to the eyes and believed to strengthen sight. Its being turned to dust and scattered by the breeze, for having aspired to the dust of the beloved's feet, is told like a punishment for overreaching. In the second couplet the violet is compared with the down on the beloved's cheek and the narcissus with the eye. In the phrase "'ayn-ı hatâ" (error itself) the word "'ayn" also means "eye" in Arabic, which makes a tevriye (double entendre) with the narcissus and eye comparison. In the third couplet the bending of the flask as it pours wine is seen as prostration before the cup; the cause of the prostration is the brows reflected in the wine. Since the brow is likened to the prayer niche (mihrab) in divan poetry, this prostration gains its meaning naturally. In the fourth couplet the brands on the body, the scars of wounds burned with hot iron for love, are likened to a spotted leopard skin. The beggar wearing a skin recalls the wandering kalender dervishes. In the last couplet the breeze, this time scattering the beloved's locks, scatters the lover's heart as well.

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 3, p. 210). teis.yesevi.edu.tr

Books