Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

'Işkuñuñ deryâsınuñ çün düşmüşüm girdabına
Vaktidür bu teşne-dil ire viṣâlüñ âbına
Komadı nâlem rebâbı râhat-ı cân bir nefes
Her yana devrân ider dönüp yaşum seylâbına
Saltanat deyrine 'âlemde revân ola mı şol
Dil ki bir rek'at namâz ide kaşuñ mihrâbına
Göz ki ol nûr-ı tecelline nazar kılup senüñ
İltifat ide cihâne gark ola ko hâbına
Bu Harîmî cânına cevrüñ bıçağı kâr ide
Nefsini teslîm kıldı 'ışkuñuñ kassâbına

In English

1. Since I have fallen into the whirlpool of the sea of your love, it is time for this thirsty heart to reach the water of union with you.

2. My moaning, like the rebab, has left not one breath of rest to the soul; the flood of my tears spreads everywhere, turning and wandering. The second line is not entirely clear; this reading is ours.

3. Would a heart that has prayed a single cycle of prayer at the prayer niche of your brow go to the monastery of sovereignty in this world.

4. If the eye that has seen the light of your manifestation pays any heed to the world, let it drown in its sleep.

5. Let the knife of your cruelty do its work on Harîmî's soul; he has surrendered himself to the butcher of your love.

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 the suffix "-ına", and the rhyme is formed by the "-âb" of "girdâb, âb, seylâb, mihrâb, hâb, kassâb". The prayer in the heading is "Eskenallâhü fi'l-cinân". Three of the rhyme words (girdâb, âb, seylâb) concern water. 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 first two couplets are built on images of water. Love is a sea, and the lover has fallen into its whirlpool; that the lover in the sea should be thirsty is a paradox, and only the water of union quenches that thirst. In the second couplet the rebab, with its moaning and aching sound, is likened to the lover's cry, and the tears become a flood. The third couplet uses the comparison of brow and prayer niche. The heart that has prayed in the niche of the beloved's brow will not go to the "deyr", the monastery, of sovereignty. Likening worldly sovereignty to a monastery, a sanctuary of another faith, expresses its distance from true worship. In the fourth couplet the word "tecelli" means in Sufism God's showing of His being and recalls the light Moses saw on Mount Sinai; for an eye that has seen that light to look at the world is heedlessness. In the last couplet knife, butcher and surrender form a scene of sacrifice: the lover has given himself up as a victim to the butcher of love.

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 34, p. 215). teis.yesevi.edu.tr

Books