Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilün

Küt-ı cân oldı dile la'l lebüñüñ lebeni
Gülşen-i hüsnüñi zeyn eyledi hattuñ çemeni
Gün yüzün şevki bozup revnakını yâseminüñ
'Ârızuñ lutfı kesâd eyledi berg-i semeni
Kan yudup la'l-i lebüñ mihri ile ey meh-rü
Yaralar bağrını her demde 'akîk-i Yemeni
Dehenüñ sırrını keşf itmek içün gülşende
Gonça çâk eyledi başdan ayağa pîreheni
Nice teşbih ideyüm kaddüñi serve kim anuñ
Yok durur piste-leb u nukl-ı şekerden deheni
Kıl terahhüm bu Harîmîye ki ṣuçını bilüp
Kapuña geldi şehâ boynına takup kefeni

In English

1. The ruby milk of your lips has become food for the soul of the heart; the meadow of your down has adorned the rose garden of your beauty.

2. Longing for your sun-like face has spoiled the lustre of the jasmine; the grace of your cheek has lowered the worth of the jasmine petal.

3. O moon-faced one, the carnelian of Yemen, swallowing blood for love of the ruby of your lips, wounds its own breast every moment.

4. To discover the secret of your mouth, the rosebud tore its shirt from top to bottom in the rose garden.

5. How can I liken your stature to the cypress; it has neither pistachio lips nor a mouth like sugared sweets.

6. O king, have pity on this Harîmî; knowing his fault, he has come to your door with his shroud tied around his neck.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

It is a ghazal of six couplets. The metre is the remel pattern Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilün. The redif (refrain word) is the suffix "-i", and the rhyme is formed by the "-en" of "leben, çemen, semen, Yemen, pîrehen, dehen, kefen". The prayer in the heading is "E'lallâhü derecâtehü". In the digital text the line divisions of the second and third couplets had shifted; they have been corrected according to sense and metre. 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 sets the beloved's beauty in competition with the beauties of nature. In the first couplet the lips are a red milk (leben) that becomes food for the soul, and the down is the meadow of the garden of beauty. In the second the beloved's sun-like face dims the lustre of the jasmine. In the third the carnelian of Yemen is shown to owe its red colour to swallowing blood out of envy of the ruby lips; this is a hüsn-i talil (poetic aetiology). The fourth couplet is built with the same device: the opening of the rosebud is interpreted as its tearing its shirt to learn the secret of the beloved's mouth. In the fifth couplet the poet gives up likening the stature to the cypress, since the cypress has neither lips nor mouth. To draw a comparison and then withdraw it as insufficient is a familiar subtlety of divan poetry. The last couplet uses the same image as the last couplet of Ghazal 19: the lover comes like a culprit to the king's door with his shroud around his neck.

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 38, pp. 215-216). teis.yesevi.edu.tr

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