Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

İşimi altûn ider sâkî gümüş peymâneler
Kîmyâdür var ise hâk-i der-i meyhaneler
Tâze gülşendür ruhuñ şevkiyle meclis sâkiyâ
Bülbüle bilüpdür anda gül durur peymâneler
Hâller sükker lebüñde noktalardur Hüsrevâ
'Aks-i dendânuñ olupdur güyiyâ dendâneler
Almazam ben âb-ı hayvânı ölürsem ağzıma
Yeter insâne ola dirlik gam-ı cânâneler
Ey Harîmî 'âşıkuñ göñlin perişân eyleyüp
Zülfine her bir perînüñ dil virürler şâneler

In English

1. With silver cups the cupbearer turns my affairs to gold; if there is any alchemy (the elixir that turns copper to gold), it is the dust at the door of the taverns.

2. O cupbearer, the gathering is a fresh rose garden through the longing for your cheek; the cups stand there like roses, and the nightingale has taken them for roses. The line does not fit the metre exactly as it stands in the text; this reading is ours.

3. O Hüsrev of beauties, the moles on the sugar of your lips are dots; the reflection of your teeth in the cup has become, as it were, a toothed rim.

4. Even if I die I will not take the water of life into my mouth; it is enough that sorrow for the beloved be life to a man.

5. O Harîmî, the combs scatter the lover's heart and give their hearts to the locks of every fairy.

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 the plural suffix "-ler", and the rhyme is formed by the "-âne" of "peymâne, meyhane, dendâne, cânâne, şâne". The prayer in the heading is "Tâbe s̱erâhü" (may his earth be fragrant). In the digital text the word "hâk-i" in the first couplet came out as "bâk-i" and has been corrected to "hâk-i". In the third couplet the apostrophe that had slipped to the end of the line has been restored to the beginning of "'Aks". 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 ghazal takes place in a wine gathering. In the first couplet the silver cup turning affairs to gold sets up a contrast between silver and gold. Alchemy here is the elixir the ancients believed could turn copper into gold. By saying that if such an elixir exists it is the dust at the tavern door, the poet presents the tavern as a place of transformation; the same image is used in Sufism for the worth of the spiritual master's door. In the third couplet the address "Hüsrevâ" makes the beloved the sovereign of beauties. Since the name Hüsrev recalls Şîrîn (whose name means "sweet"), a tenasüp (congruence of images) is formed with the word "sükker" (sugar); the moles on the lips are imagined as dots on sugar. In the fourth couplet the lover refuses even the water of life that grants immortality; sorrow for the beloved is life enough for him. In the last couplet the comb (şâne) combs the locks and scatters them with its teeth, and so it scatters the lover's heart as well.

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 9, p. 211). teis.yesevi.edu.tr

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