Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ṣanemâ düşeliden gönlüme mihrüñ eseri
Gözüme dize gelür devr-i zemânuñ kameri
Şöyle dem urdı bu dem 'ışkuñ odı sînede kim
Korkarum oda yakar kûyuñı âhum şereri
Dilberâ la'l-i lebüñ nâr-ı ruhuñ şevki ile
Girmedi kulağuma şem' ü şerâbuñ haberi
Çünki hâk eyleyüben ṣalduñ ayaklara beni
Küşe-i çeşmüñ ile n'ola kılursañ nazarı
Kudsî tâvûs disem zülfüne yarar ṣanemâ
[okunamadı]
Yâr işiginden ırağ olup ilâhî dilerüm
Olmasun kimse Harîmî gibi halkun 'aberi

In English

1. O beauty, ever since the trace of your love fell upon my heart, even the moon of the age seems small to my eyes, as if kneeling. The line is not entirely clear; this reading is ours.

2. The fire of your love has so flared in my breast that I fear the spark of my sigh will set your street on fire.

3. O heart-stealer, through longing for the ruby of your lips and the fire of your cheek, no news of candle or of wine has entered my ear.

4. Since you have turned me to dust and cast me at people's feet, what harm if you glance at me from the corner of your eye.

5. O beauty, it would be fitting if I called your locks a holy peacock; [the second line is missing from the digital text].

6. O God, I pray that, being far from the beloved's threshold, no one may become a lesson to people as Harîmî has. The reading of the rhyme word "'aberi" is doubtful; the meaning is given according to the reading "ibret" (lesson).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Six couplets appear in the digital text, but of the fifth only the first line survives. The second line must have dropped at the turn to the right-hand column; it has been marked as illegible. 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 "-er, -ar" of "eser, kamer, şerer, haber, nazar, 'aber". The prayer in the heading is "Şerahallâhü sadrehü" (may God open his heart). 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

In the first couplet "mihr" again means both love and sun; once the sun has fallen into the heart, even the moon in the sky seems unimportant. In the second the fire of love grows so great in the breast that the lover fears the spark of his sigh will burn the beloved's street, a subtle invention showing that the lover thinks of the beloved more than of his own pain. The third couplet contains a leff ü neşr (enumeration and matching). First the ruby of the lips and the fire of the cheek are named, then candle and wine come in the second line, but the order is reversed: the fiery cheek answers to the candle and the ruby lips to the wine. In the fourth couplet the lover, turned to dust and spread at people's feet, asks the beloved only for a glance from the corner of the eye. In the fifth the locks, for their colours and curls, are likened to the peacock of paradise; the holy peacock is a bird associated with paradise in divan poetry.

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

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