Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Cânumı yandırdı ey dilber firâkuñ âteşi
Küle mi virdi hevâya iftirâkuñ âteşi
'Işkuñuñ hamrında bir lezzet bulupdur mest-i dil
Tâ ebed söyünmez andan ol mezâkuñ âteşi
Va'de-i vasl añlamışdur dil hitâb-ı gaybdan
Yakdı anı pes o mefhûm-ı siyâkuñ âteşi
Gözleri ebrûlarıyle fitne içün cem' olup
Düşdi bu dil şehrine ol ittifâkuñ âteşi
Şol kadar yandı Harîmî cânı şevkuñ nârına
'Âleme sâri olur ol iştiyâkuñ âteşi

In English

1. O heart-stealer, the fire of your separation has burned my soul; did the fire of parting turn it to ash and scatter it on the air?

2. The heart has found a delight in the wine of your love; the fire of that taste will never be quenched.

3. The heart understood a promise of union from the voice of the unseen; the fire of that meaning and of that context has burned it.

4. When the eyes joined with the brows to make mischief, the fire of that alliance fell upon this city of the heart.

5. Harîmî's soul burned so in the fire of longing for you that the fire of that yearning spreads through the whole world.

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 "âteşi" (the fire of), and the rhyme is formed by the "-âk" of "firâk, iftirâk, mezâk, siyâk, ittifâk, iştiyâk" followed by the suffix "-uñ". The prayer in the heading is "Teğammedehullâh bi-rahmetihî" (may God immerse him in His mercy). According to Kılıç's notes this ghazal too is found in Korkut's Kitâb fi't-tasavvuf (fol. 182b). There the first couplet reads "iştiyâkuñ" (of yearning) instead of "iftirâkuñ" (of parting), and for the last couplet the reading "ihtirâkuñ" (of burning) is given in the margin. 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 word "fire" in the redif is tied in every couplet to something different: separation, the taste of wine, the meaning of a word, an alliance and longing. The sound of the ghazal comes from the succession of Arabic words ending in "-âk". In the first couplet the fire of separation turns the soul to ash and scatters it. In the second love is a wine whose taste burns forever. The third couplet is built in the language of the medrese: "hitâb" (address), "mefhûm" (meaning) and "siyâk" (context) are terms of exegesis and grammar. The heart has drawn a promise of union from the voice of the unseen, and the fire of that meaning has burned it. It is a couplet that suits the language of a poet who wrote learned works in Arabic. In the fourth couplet eye and brow make an "alliance" for mischief, and fire falls on the city of the heart; a city catching fire recalls the description of revolt and plunder. In the last couplet the fire of longing spreads through the whole world.

Historical Context

That the ghazal also appears in the book on Sufism Korkut wrote in 1508 and presented to his father shows that it was among the pieces the poet chose and valued himself. The marginal note "ihtirâkuñ" may be a correction added to the text later or a variant reading; Kılıç's note does not make clear whose it is.

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 42, p. 216). teis.yesevi.edu.tr
  • Feridun Emecen, "Korkut, Şehzade", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 26, Ankara 2002, pp. 205–207. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/korkut-sehzade

Books

  • Şehzade Korkut, Da'vetü'n-nefsi't-tâliha ile'l-a'mâli's-sâliha (Kitâb fi't-tasavvuf), Süleymaniye Library, Ayasofya nr. 1763, fol. 182b (after the note in Kılıç 1996).
  • Filiz Kılıç, "Harîmî, Şehzâde Korkud", Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü, 2014 (updated 2020). https://teis.yesevi.edu.tr/madde-detay/harimi-sehzade-korkud

Online sources