Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Zülf-i pür-çini olur âşüfte cân eglencesi
Dâne-i hâli durur cân u cihân eglencesi
Ben nice şerh ideyüm esrâr-ı 'ışkın ol mehüñ
Çün dehânı sırrıdur râz-ı nihân eglencesi
Gamze-i hün-rîzine meyl itdigi ebrû-yı yâr
Bir Moğol-çin gözlüdür tir ü kemân eglencesi
Zülf-i dilber gibi sürer her gönül 'ömr-i dırâz
Olsa yanında anuñ bir dil-sitân eglencesi
Ey Harîmî hattına dil bağlama zülfi gibi
Tâ ola cân murğınuñ bâğ-ı cinân eglencesi

In English

1. The beloved's curling locks are the pastime of a distracted soul; the grain of the mole is the pastime of soul and world.

2. How should I explain the secrets of that moon's love; for the secret of the mouth is the pastime of the hidden secret.

3. The beloved's brow has inclined to the bloodthirsty glance; it is one with Mongol-Chinese eyes whose pastime is the arrow and the bow.

4. If there were a heart-stealer beside it as a pastime, every heart would live a long life like the beloved's locks.

5. O Harîmî, do not bind your heart to the beloved's down as you did to the locks, so that the pastime of the bird of the soul may be the garden of paradise.

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 "eglencesi" (its pastime), and the rhyme is the "-ân" of "cân, cihân, nihân, kemân, dil-sitân, cinân". The heading has neither "Velehü" nor a prayer. The choice of a Turkish word as redif, and an everyday word like "eğlence" at that, is notable. 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 "eglence" here means less what it does today (entertainment) than "something to occupy and console oneself with". Each couplet of the ghazal lists what the lover occupies himself with. In the first couplet the locks are what the distracted soul dwells on and the mole what the whole world dwells on; calling the mole a "grain" recalls the familiar motif likening it to the bait that draws the bird into the snare. In the second the beloved's mouth is again seen as a secret: it is so small that it cannot be described, only dwelt upon in thought. In the third "Mongol-Chinese eyes" describes narrow, slanting eyes; arrow and bow are weapons associated with the mounted archers of Central Asia, with the brow as the bow and the glance as the arrow. In the fourth the length of the locks is compared with "ömr-i dırâz" (long life). The last couplet is a Sufi warning: the poet reminds himself not to bind his heart to worldly beauty, for the true home of the bird of the soul is the garden of paradise.

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

Books