Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ṣanemâ gamzelerüñ kasdı bu dem cânâ gibi
Kanuma kanmak içün meyli anuñ kana gibi
'Anberîn beñlerinüñ firkati bâğrımı delüp
Micmerüñ yüregine od düşürüp yana gibi
Hat-ı reyhânuña hayrân oluben leyl ü nehâr
Zülfüne bâd-ı ṣabâ el uzadur şâne gibi
Dilberâ gül ruhun üstündeki hâl-i siyehüñ
Beni ṣayd itmek içün dâm degül dâne gibi
Dem-be-dem la'l-i lebüñ şevki ile döne döne
Nice bin dürlü yürek kan tola peymâne gibi
Ṣubh-dem bâd-ı seher yüz süre tapuña gelüp
Merhabâ didigi sen zülf-i perîşâne gibi
Şâm-ı zülfünde Harîmî giceler taña kalur
Şem'-i ruhsâruña cân virmege pervâne gibi

In English

1. O beauty, the aim of your glances now seems turned toward my soul; their desire seems turned to blood, to drink their fill of my blood. The couplet is not entirely clear; this reading is ours.

2. Separation from your ambergris-scented moles pierces my breast and is like setting fire to the heart of a censer and burning it.

3. The morning breeze, which marvels night and day at your basil-like down, stretches out its hand to your locks like a comb.

4. O heart-stealer, the black mole on your rose-like cheek is not a snare to catch me but like the grain of bait in the snare.

5. Every moment, through longing for your ruby lips, turning and turning, many thousands of hearts fill with blood like a cup.

6. At dawn the morning wind comes and rubs its face at your door; its saying "welcome" to your dishevelled locks is like this. The couplet is not entirely clear; this reading is ours.

7. In the evening of your locks Harîmî stays awake night after night until morning, like a moth, to give his life to the candle of your cheek.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

It is a ghazal of seven couplets. The metre is the remel pattern Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilün. The redif (refrain word) is "gibi" (like), and the rhyme is formed by the "-âne, -ana" of "cânâ, kana, yana, şâne, dâne, peymâne, perîşâne, pervâne". The first three rhymes ("cânâ, kana, yana") differ slightly from the rest; Kılıç's quotation in her study also gives the opening as "canâ gibi … kana gibi", so the text has not been touched. The prayer in the heading is "'Ammerallâhü 'ukbâhû". Kılıç quotes the opening couplet as an example of letter repetition and the doubling "döne döne" in the fifth couplet as an example of word repetition. 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 the repeated sound "kan" (blood) ("kanuma, kanmak, kana") gives the couplet a harsh harmony; the glance's thirst for blood is felt in the sound as well. In the second couplet the micmer, the censer, is the vessel in which fragrant substances such as ambergris were burned; separation from the ambergris-scented moles burns the lover's breast like a censer. In the third the morning breeze is likened to a comb; the hand reaching for the locks is the wind that combs them. In the fourth there is both a likeness of sound and a tenasüp (congruence of images) between "dâm" (snare) and "dâne" (grain of bait); the mole is less a snare than the bait that draws the bird into it. In the fifth hearts fill with blood and become cups. In the last couplet a contrast is drawn between "şâm" (evening) and morning. Waiting in the evening of the locks, the lover sacrifices himself to the light of the cheek through the motif of the candle and the moth.

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 47, p. 217). teis.yesevi.edu.tr

Books