Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Senden ayru gözlerüm açup cihânı görmedüm
Hak bilür kim dostum cismümde cânı görmedüm
Niçe gice niçe gündüz fürkatünle âh kim
İnlerüm bülbül gibi sen gülsitânı görmedüm
Dün gice yandum yakıldum ol mehün ‘ışkında ben
İnledüm tâ subha dek sıhhat nişânı görmedüm
‘Işka hem-dem olalı sabr u karârum kalmadı
Senden ayru olalı ben bir dem anı görmedüm
Giceler ta subha dek kan aglar isem tan mıdur
Niçe gündür Şâhiyâ ol nev-cevânı görmedüm

In English

1. Apart from you, I have not opened my eyes and seen the world; my friend, God knows that I have not seen a soul in my body.

2. Ah, so many nights and so many days I moan like the nightingale in separation from you; I have not seen you, that rose garden.

3. Last night I burned and was consumed with love for that moon-faced one; I moaned until dawn and saw no sign of recovery.

4. Since I became the companion of love, no patience or steadiness is left to me; since I was parted from you, I have not seen them for a single moment.

5. O Şâhî, is it any wonder if I weep blood through the nights until dawn; for so many days I have not seen that young beloved.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The five-couplet ghazal is written in the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern. The redif (refrain word) is "görmedüm" (I have not seen), and the rhyme is the "-ânı" sound in "cihânı, cânı, gülsitânı, nişânı, anı, nev-cevânı". Kılıç lists "görmedüm" among the refrains of the divan. "Anı" (it, them) in the fourth couplet is a pronoun; since it is not a noun with a long "â" like the others, the rhyme holds only in sound. In the edition the folio mark 39a stands at the end of the last line. The addressee is not stated.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The whole weight of the ghazal is carried by the redif. The verb "görmedüm" is tied in each couplet to a different object: the world, the soul in the body, the beloved's rose garden, a sign of recovery, patience and steadiness, and finally the young beloved himself. In this way the redif builds a list of the things lost with separation. In the opening couplet two extremes meet: though the eye is open the world is not seen, though the body lives no soul is seen within it. This is a hyperbole, frequent in divan poetry, that describes separation as a kind of death. There is also a closeness of sound between the rhyme words of the opening couplet, "cihân" (world) and "cân" (soul); the world outside and the life within meet in the same absence. The oath "Hak bilür" (God knows) gives this hyperbole an air of sincerity.

The second couplet sets up the motif of the rose and the nightingale. The line says "sen gülsitânı" (you, the rose garden), so the beloved is the rose garden itself, while the lover is the nightingale moaning far from it. The third couplet opens with a concrete time rarely seen in the divan ghazal: "dün gice" (last night). The paired verbs "yandum yakıldum" (I burned and was consumed) and the words "tâ subha dek" (until dawn) describe a sleepless night in a manner close to everyday speech. In the fourth couplet "sabr u karâr" (patience and steadiness) are named together; whoever becomes the companion of love loses both. "Kan aglamak" (weeping blood) in the closing couplet is the familiar expression of the image of bloody tears. In the last line the beloved is described as "nev-cevân" (freshly young); this epithet ties the ghazal to the classic portrait of the young beloved.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 96-97, ghazal no. 103 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 39a); also p. 29 (refrains), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources