Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Kanı ol demler ki bir mahbüb efendüm var idi
'Işk-ı rahşı gibi destümde semendüm var idi
Gülşen-i hüsni temâşâ-gâh idi cân u dile
Bâğ-ı hüsn içinde bir serv-i bülendüm var idi
Dil ṣaçı zincirine düşdigi dem divâne-veş
Bend-i zülfinden dahı boynumda bendüm var idi
Zülfinüñ sevdâsına cân virmege iltir beni
Dil dimişler adına bir derdmendüm var idi
'Işk şâhı kullarından bu Harîmînüñ ezel
Dâmeni belde nice çâpük levendüm var idi

In English

1. Where are those days when I had a beloved for my master; in my hand I had a steed like the Rahş of love.

2. The rose garden of that beauty was a place of delight for soul and heart; in the garden of beauty I had a tall cypress.

3. The moment the heart fell into the chain of that hair like a madman, I had a bond on my neck as well, from the bond of the locks.

4. Leading me to give my life for passion for those locks, I had a sufferer whom they called the heart.

5. Among the servants of the king of love, this Harîmî had from eternity many nimble young men, skirts tucked into their belts, ready to serve.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

It is a ghazal of five couplets and the last ghazal of the Dîvânçe. The metre is the remel pattern Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilün. The redif (refrain word) is "-üm var idi" (I had a ...), and the rhyme is the "-end" of "efend, semend, bülend, bend, derdmend, levend". The prayer in the heading is "Ahsenallâhü ileyhi". After this ghazal the Dîvânçe has a two-couplet Arabic poem and two single couplets. 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 "var idi" (there was, I had) turns the ghazal from beginning to end into a recollection of the past. Opening with "Kanı ol demler" (where are those days), the poem recalls a beloved and a life no longer at hand. In the first couplet the beloved is called "master", and the steed in the lover's hand is likened to the Rahş of love; Rahş is Rüstem's famous horse in the Shahnama. Calling the beloved master fits the language of servant and master in divan poetry. In the second couplet the beloved's stature is a cypress and the beauty a rose garden. In the third the locks are a chain and the mad heart a Mecnun bound in it; the bond on the neck expresses both captivity and devotion. In the fourth the heart is personified as a sufferer with a name. In the last couplet "levend" means a nimble, brave young man, and "dâmeni belde" (skirt in the belt) describes someone who has tucked his skirt into his belt, ready to serve. The poet counts himself among the servants of the king of love and says he had many such young men at his side. The sources give no information about the occasion after which the ghazal was written.

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 52, p. 218). teis.yesevi.edu.tr

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