Original Persian Text

Metre: Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün

Kâm-i dil ender belâ bes mânde-em feryâd res
Bes ez în hicrânı şikâyet dâde-em feryâd res
Dâg-ı ġurbet der-derd nîst dest-i dûstân reft ez-în
Bi-şumâr endûh ü ġam nâ-dîde-em feryâd res
Ḥâl-i mâ hîç kes nedâned men çe hâhem cüz bi-dost
Ân-çünân mestem zi ‘aşḳ üftâde-em feryâd res
Der-i türâ şehâ eknûn berâ-yı ‘âşıḳān
Âmedem custem ‘ınâyet bende-em feryâd res
Gofte-em Mir’ât-nümây bâ ümîd ez lüṭf û
Rindegân-i âşıḳānem rinde-em feryâd res

In English

1. The heart's desire is left in affliction; come to my aid. After this separation I have complained; come to my aid.

2. The wound of exile is not without pain, the hand of friends has gone from it; I have seen countless griefs and sorrows; come to my aid.

3. No one knows our state; what do I want but the friend? I am so drunk with love that I have fallen; come to my aid.

4. O king, I have now come to your door for the sake of the lovers and sought your favour; I am a servant, come to my aid.

5. As Mir'ât-nümâ I have spoken in hope of his kindness: I am one of the loving rakes, a rake; come to my aid.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Persian Ghazal of Supplication

This is the only ghazal in the book written wholly in Persian; the edition gives it under the heading “Ġazel-i Fârisî der Münâcât-ı Ḫudâ”, a Persian ghazal of supplication to God. Its five couplets, in a remel of four feet, each close on the words “feryâd res”, come to my aid, answer my cry. The rhyme is built with the Persian first-person ending: mânde-em, dâde-em, nâ-dîde-em, üftâde-em, bende-em, rinde-em. For Şensöz the Persian couplets in the work show the poet's command of that language.

As its heading says, the ghazal is a supplication, but its language is that of the love ghazal: separation, the wound of exile, the departure of friends, falling drunk with love. The address “şehâ”, O king, in the fourth couplet may be directed both to God and to Bahâeddîn Nakşibend, who is called “Shah” in many places in the book; the text does not distinguish between the two. In the final couplet the poet counts himself among the “rindegân-ı âşıḳân”, the loving rakes; the contrast of rake and ascetic in the Turkish ghazals is repeated here in Persian.

Some words remain uncertain in the transcription; the hardest place is the first line of the second couplet (“Dâg-ı ġurbet der-derd nîst …”). The edition has no meaning for this ghazal either: the rendering above is ours and leans in places on conjecture.

Bibliography

Online sources