Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Şol gönül kim 'ışkuñuñ nârıyle pür-nür olmadı
Pertev-i hüsnün tecellisine ol Tür olmadı
Ey gönül şâd ol gam-ı 'ışk ile kim her kimsede
Bu gam olmadı iki 'âlemde mesrûr olmadı
Hâk ola ol ser ki bâd-ı 'ışka perrân olmaya
Çâk ola ol sîne kim 'ışkla tenevvür olmadı
Düş hârâbâtına 'ışkınuñ bu 'âlem halkına
Ey dil-i divâne ahvâlüñ çü ma'zûr olmadı
Ey Harîmî hânumân kıl pîşkeş dergâhına
Ol cenâba çünki her dervîşe destûr olmadı

In English

1. The heart that was not filled with light by the fire of your love did not become a Mount Sinai for the manifestation of the light of your beauty.

2. O heart, rejoice in the sorrow of love; for whoever did not have this sorrow was not happy in either world.

3. May the head that did not fly on the wind of love turn to dust; may the breast that was not illumined by love be torn.

4. O mad heart, since your state was not excused by the people of this world, fall into the tavern of love.

5. O Harîmî, offer your house and home as a gift to the beloved's lodge; for not every dervish was given leave to enter that presence.

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 "olmadı" (did not become), and the rhyme is the "-ûr" of "pür-nûr, Tûr, mesrûr, tenevvür, ma'zûr, destûr". The prayer in the heading is "Refa'allâhü kadrehü" (may God exalt his worth). The redif "olmadı" ends every couplet with a statement of absence or lack. 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 woven with Sufi concepts. The first couplet alludes to Moses witnessing God's manifestation on Mount Sinai; the heart not illumined by the fire of love cannot be a Sinai on which the beloved's beauty is manifest. In the second couplet the sorrow of love is counted a cause of happiness. This paradox, that one without sorrow cannot be happy in either world, recalls the Sufi emphasis on the maturing power of suffering. In the third couplet the words "Hâk ola, çâk ola" (may it turn to dust, may it be torn) set up the manner of a curse: dust is wished on the head that does not fly on love's wind, tearing on the breast not lit by love. In the fourth the lover whom the people of the world do not understand abandons himself to the tavern of love. In the last couplet the words "dergâh" (lodge), "derviş" and "destûr" (leave) call up the setting of a Sufi lodge. Not everyone is admitted to the beloved's lodge; Harîmî is asked to dedicate his house and home to that door.

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 40, p. 216). teis.yesevi.edu.tr

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