Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef'ûlü Fâ'ilâtü Mefâ'îlü Fâ'ilün

Zülfün hevâsı başuma cânâ belâ yeter
Hâlüñ hayâli gözime 'ayn-ı 'ınâ yeter
Şîrîn lebüñ şerâbına dil-teşne oluben
Kan ağladığı gözlerimüñ mâcerâ yeter
Kurup kaşuñ kemânını kaṣd itme cânuma
Gamzen hadengi başa kaderden kazâ yeter
Yüz sürmege ayaguña ey yâr-ı pür-cefâ
Ben mübtelâya sencileyin bî-vefâ yeter
Çeşmiñe uydı gamzelerüñ cânum almağa
Derdlü yüregüme ṣanemâ bu cefâ yeter
Zülfün hevâsı fikr-i ruhun ey perî-ṣıfat
Başıma tâc egnüme bir dem kabâ yeter
Yâr işüginde yüz süre varmağa ey rakîb
Sen fârig ol Harîmîye 'avn-ı Hudâ yeter

In English

1. O soul, the passion for your locks is affliction enough for my head; the image of your mole is torment itself enough for my eye.

2. While the heart thirsts for the wine of your sweet lips, what my eyes weeping blood have suffered is enough.

3. Do not draw the bow of your brow and aim at my life; the arrow of your glance is enough as a fate decreed for the head.

4. O cruel beloved, for rubbing my face at your feet, a faithless one like you is enough for me, the afflicted one.

5. Your glances followed your eye to take my life; O beauty, this cruelty is enough for my aching heart.

6. O fairy-natured beloved, the passion for your locks and the thought of your cheek are enough as a crown for my head and, for a moment, a robe for my back.

7. O rival, give up trying to stop Harîmî from going to rub his face at the beloved's threshold; God's help is enough for him.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

It is a ghazal of seven couplets. The metre is the muzâri pattern Mef'ûlü Fâ'ilâtü Mefâ'îlü Fâ'ilün. The redif (refrain word) is "yeter" (is enough), and the rhyme is the "-â" of "belâ, 'ınâ, mâcerâ, kazâ, bî-vefâ, cefâ, kabâ, Hudâ". It is the first of the poems ending in the letter re of the Arabic alphabet. In the digital text the line division of the third couplet had shifted ("cânuma Gamzen" on one line); it has been divided according to sense and metre. The third couplet is very close to the third couplet of Ghazal 39, in the same metre; both poems contain a couplet beginning "Kurup kaşuñ kemânını kaṣd itme". 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

The redif "yeter" turns every couplet into an expression either of contentment or of weariness, and the ghazal moves between these two senses. In the first couplet the locks are an affliction for the head and the mole a torment for the eye; since the rhyme word "'ınâ" (torment) is used together with "'ayn" (eye), the link between eye and torment is tightened. The third couplet works one of the most common motifs of divan poetry: the brow is a bow and the glance the arrow shot from it. Calling the arrow a fate decreed says that the pain the beloved gives cannot be escaped. In the sixth couplet the passion for the locks becomes a crown on the head and the thought of the cheek a robe on the back. Crown and robe are the visible signs of sovereignty; the lover regards thinking of the beloved as a kind of kingship. It is notable that a prince draws this comparison, though it is also common in divan poetry. In the closing couplet the rival is told "sen fârig ol" (leave off, give up). The lover's reaching the beloved is made to depend not on the rival's obstruction but on God's help.

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 5, p. 210). teis.yesevi.edu.tr

Books