Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ne revâdur bu ki ey hüsn ilinüñ pâdişehi
Kıldı yağma dil ü cân mülkini 'ışkuñ sipehi
Gül ruhun şevki ile dem gelür ey serv-i revân
Vecd olup yire çalar lâle-i nu'mân külehi
Kadd-i dil-cûñı görem diyü şehâ leyl ü nehâr
Nice demdür ki ayağ üzre turur serv-i sehî
[okunamadı]
Bâğ-ı firdevs-i na'îm oldığıçün cilve-gehi
Ne keramet korniş ol Hindû-yı hâlüñdeki hak
Cennet-i huld-ı berîn oldı anuñ câygehi
Güli sûziyle koyup lâleyi odlara yakar
Görünüz ol ruhun üstindeki hâl-i siyehi
Bu Harîmî yanuña düşse ne tan sâye gibi
İzüñe yüz sürer ey serv-i revân gâh gehi

In English

1. O sovereign of the realm of beauty, is it right that the army of your love has plundered the realm of heart and soul?

2. O walking cypress, through longing for your rose-like cheek, now and then the poppy falls into ecstasy and dashes its cap to the ground.

3. O king, so that it may see your heart-winning stature, the slender cypress has stood on its feet night and day for so long.

4. [the first line is missing from the digital text] … for the place where the beloved displays such grace is the garden of the paradise of Firdevs.

5. What miracle has the Indian of your mole worked, that its place has become the highest of the gardens of eternal paradise. The form of the line in the text ("korniş") is corrupt; the meaning is given according to this reading.

6. Look at the black mole on that cheek: leaving the rose of the cheek, it sets the tulip on fire with its burning. The couplet is not entirely clear; this reading is ours.

7. Is it any wonder if this Harîmî falls at your side like a shadow; O walking cypress, now and then he rubs his face upon your footprints.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

It is a ghazal of seven couplets; the first line of the fourth couplet dropped at the turn from page 216 to page 217 and 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 "-eh" of "pâdişeh, sipeh, küleh, sehî, cilve-geh, câygeh, siyeh, geh". The heading has only "Velehü", without a prayer. In the digital text the word "Hindû-yı" in the fifth couplet came out as "Hindûf-yı". 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 couplet sets up a language of sovereignty and war: the beloved is the king of the realm of beauty, love is his army, and it plunders the realm of heart and soul. In the second couplet the crown-shaped flower of the poppy (lâle-i nu'mân) is likened to a cap; the poppy swaying in the wind is seen as a dervish who falls into ecstasy in the sema and dashes his cap to the ground. In the third the cypress always standing on its feet is tied to its expectation of seeing the beloved's stature; this is a hüsn-i talil (poetic aetiology). In the fifth couplet the cheek is paradise and the black mole on it an Indian. That an Indian, counted an unbeliever, should settle in the highest paradise is presented as something only a miracle could explain. In the last couplet the lover likens himself to the beloved's shadow: as a shadow falls at its owner's feet, so the lover rubs his face upon the beloved's footprints.

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 44, pp. 216-217). teis.yesevi.edu.tr

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