Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Tütiyâ-yı hâk-i pâyuñdan kılan kat'-ı nazar
İki gözüme görünmez çıkdın ey nûr-ı baṣar
Geşt-zâr-ı sîneme ekdüñ muhabbet tohmını
Hây 'ömrüñ hâṣılı bi'llâhi bundan ne beter
Bir kadeh meyle göz açdırmaz baṣar nür ehlini
Sâki-i gül-çihrenüñ bulınmaz ayağın çeker
Hem-demüm âhum durur şâm-ı gam-ı dildârda
Gam-dem olurdum eger olmasa hem-dem âh eger
Her nefes ney gibi ben meclisde efgân idicek
Ey Harîmî bilmezem mutrib arada ne çeker

In English

1. Whoever turns his gaze from the collyrium that is the dust of your feet is not seen by my two eyes; O light of my eyes, you have gone away. The line is not entirely clear in the form found in the text. Following the form in the biographical anthologies the meaning is: O light of my eyes, if my two eyes are to turn their gaze from the collyrium of the dust of your feet, I need them not; let them fall out.

2. You sowed the seed of love in the field of my breast; alas, the harvest of my life, by God, what could be worse than this.

3. The rose-faced cupbearer leaves those who have the light of sight unable to open their eyes with a single cup of wine; no one can be found to bear the foot (the cup) of that cupbearer. The couplet is not entirely clear; this reading is ours.

4. In the evening of sorrow for the beloved my sigh is my companion; if the sigh were not my companion, I would be one who breathes only sorrow.

5. When I moan like the reed flute in the gathering with every breath, O Harîmî, I do not know what the musician plays, or suffers, meanwhile.

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. There is no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is the "-er" of "nazar, baṣar, beter, çeker, eger", and "çeker" serves as a rhyme twice, in the third and fifth couplets. In the digital text the word "hâk-i" in the first line came out as "bâk-i". The letters b and h are confused several times in the text of the Dîvânçe, so it has been corrected to "hâk-i" (the dust of). Kılıç quotes the fourth couplet as an example of letter 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

The opening couplet rests on the familiar motif that likens the dust of the beloved's feet to the collyrium (tûtiyâ) applied to the eyes. In the second couplet the breast is a field, love the seed and life the harvest of that field; the word "hâsıl" is used in the senses of both harvest and result, forming a tevriye (double entendre). The fourth couplet is the most worked in sound. The words "hem-dem" (companion, one who shares one's breath) and "gam-dem" (one who breathes sorrow) and the recurring sound "eger" show the way of building harmony through repeated letters and words that Kılıç sees in Harîmî. In the last couplet the lover's moaning like the reed flute outdoes the musician of the gathering. The verb "çekmek" is used both for playing an instrument and for suffering.

Historical Context

The opening couplet of this ghazal is the couplet of Korkut's most often cited in the biographical anthologies (tezkire). Latîfî counts it among the prince's "pearl-scattering poems", and Kınalızâde calls it a "famous opening couplet". In both anthologies the couplet reads "Tûtiyâ-yı ḫâk-pâyüñden iden ḳaṭ'-ı naẓar / İki gözümse gerekmez çıḳsun ey nûr-ı baṣar". The second line in the Dîvânçe ("İki gözüme görünmez çıkdın") is more obscure in meaning. The form in the anthologies plainly expresses the devotion of a lover who wants no eye that would turn away from the dust of the beloved's feet. The difference arises either from a variant reading between copies or from a corruption in the collected text; which is correct cannot be said without seeing the manuscript itself.

Bibliography

Primary sources

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

Books

Online sources