Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün

Sînemi çak itse ger hançerle cânânum benüm
Raks ura tâ haşre dek şevk ile bu cânum benüm
Câna geçdi ol kaşı yânun hadeng-i gamzesi
Ol sebebden hûn-feşândur çeşm-i giryânum benüm
Çenge döndi kâmetüm zârîlig eyler her kalem
Râstî hoş perdeler seyr eyler efgânum benüm
‘Asker-i gam yine vîrân kıldı gönlüm şehrini
‘Adl idersen vaktidür devletlü sultânum benüm
Gel tabîbâ ko müdâvâyı bana şerbetle kim
Vasl-ı dil-berdür şifâda asl-ı dermânum benüm
Leylî-i zülfün gamıyla dostum Mecnûn-sıfat
Göklere çıksa ‘aceb mi âh u efgûnum benüm
Şâhiyâ endûh-ı gam hıştıyla mi’mâr-ı ezel
Derd-i ‘ışk ilinde bünyâd itmiş eyvânum benüm

In English

1. If my beloved tore open my breast with a dagger, this soul of mine would dance with joy until the Day of Resurrection.

2. The arrow of the lashes of that bow-browed one has pierced my soul; that is why my weeping eye sheds blood.

3. My stature has bent into a harp, every pen moans; truly, my lament wanders through beautiful frets (moves through lovely notes in the makam râst).

4. The army of grief has once again laid waste the city of my heart; O my fortunate sultan, if you are to do justice, now is the time.

5. Come, O physician, stop treating me with syrups; in healing, my true cure is union with the beloved.

6. My friend, I have become like Mecnûn through grief for the Leylâ of your lock; is it any wonder if my sighs and cries rise to the skies?

7. O Şâhî, the architect of pre-eternity has built my palace with the bricks of sorrow and grief in the land of love's pain.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The seven-couplet ghazal is written in the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern. The redif (refrain word) is "benüm" (my, of mine), and the rhyme is the "-ân" sound in "cânân, cân, giryân, efgân, sultân, dermân, eyvân" followed by the suffix "-um". The word "efgûnum" in the sixth couplet does not fit the rhyme; considering the pair "âh u efgân" (sighs and cries), "efgânum" is expected here, and there may be a typesetting error in the edition. This is an observation we make without altering the text. Kılıç counts the ghazal among the ten with the redif "benüm"; in footnote 73 it appears as "100", because in this part of the edition the numbers in the introduction are one less than those of the text. In the edition the ghazal is on pages 95-96 and has no folio mark of its own.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet continues the manner of speech that presents death in love as the joy of union: if the beloved's dagger tore open the breast, the soul would dance until the Resurrection. A similar idea is found in the opening couplet of ghazal 96 in the edition. The third couplet is a musical picture. The lover's bent stature is likened to the çeng, a curved stringed instrument (harp). The word "râst" means both "truly" and is the name of a makam (melodic mode); "perde" is the position of a note on the instrument, and "seyr" is the path a makam follows in a melody. The line thus says that the lament wanders from note to note like a makam. This is a congruence of images (tenasüp) built on double meanings. The expression "her kalem" (every pen) in the same couplet is obscure; the pen, being made of reed, may have been imagined moaning like a wind instrument, or the reading "her elem" (every pain) may be required. Both suggestions are ours.

In the fourth couplet the army of grief destroys the city of the heart, and the poet asks the "devletlü sultân" (fortunate sultan) for justice. In the fourth couplet of ghazal 102, which immediately follows in the edition, the same line is repeated with a small difference: "Dâd idersen vaktidür devletlü sultânum benüm". The blood-shedding "çeşm-i giryân" (weeping eye) in the second line of the second couplet also appears in a similar line in the fifth couplet of ghazal 102. The physician and syrup are named in the fifth couplet, and Leylâ and Mecnûn in the sixth; Leylâ here is a name given to the beloved's lock, since both are dark and both drive the lover mad. The closing couplet ends with an architectural metaphor: the architect of pre-eternity has built the lover's palace with bricks of grief in the land of love's pain. The word "ezel" (pre-eternity) here says that the lover's fate was written from the moment of creation.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 95-96, ghazal no. 101 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225); also p. 29 (footnote 73: ghazals with the redif "benüm") and p. 96 (ghazal 102), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources