Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün

Düşüp cânâ hevâ-yı vasluna terk-i diyâr itdüm
Yolunda başuma her ne gelürse ihtiyâr itdüm
Hümâ-yı vaslun ey meh-rû ‘acebdür gökde uçarken
Salup şehbâz-ı şi’rüm dest-i tab’umdan şikâr itdüm
Nazîrün görmedüm dünyâda ey şems-i cihân-tâbum
Cihânı bir niçe kez ser-te-ser geşt ü güzâr itdüm
Dehân u kâmet ü zülfün hayâliyle gönül gencin
Ser-â-ser toldurup mâl ile kendüm mâldâr itdüm
Düşürüp gönlümi mihr-i ruhı sevdâsına Şâhî
Dirîgâ göz göre yirüm semender gibi nâr itdüm

In English

1. O beloved, longing for union with you, I left my homeland; whatever befalls me on your path, I chose it all myself.

2. O moon-faced one, while the hümâ of union with you was flying in the sky, wonder of wonders, I released the falcon of my poetry from the hand of my nature and hunted it.

3. O my sun that lights the world, I have not seen your equal in the world; and yet I have travelled the world from end to end several times.

4. With the image of your mouth, your stature and your lock I filled the treasury of the heart from end to end and made myself a man of wealth.

5. Şâhî, having let my heart fall in love with the sun of his cheek, alas, with my eyes open I have made my dwelling fire, like the salamander.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The five-couplet ghazal is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün" pattern. The redif (refrain word) is "itdüm" (I did, I made), and the rhyme is the "-âr" sound in "diyâr, ihtiyâr, şikâr, güzâr, mâldâr, nâr". Kılıç lists "itdüm" among the refrains of the divan. In the edition the ghazal is on page 97 and has no folio mark of its own. The addressee is not stated.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet is the word of a lover who leaves his homeland for the beloved's sake. "Terk-i diyâr" (leaving one's homeland) also occurs in ghazal 53 of the same divan, as the inevitable result of patience running out. The poem has no clue that would tie these words to a particular journey in the poet's life. "İhtiyâr itmek" (to choose, to accept) in the second line says that the lover takes on knowingly whatever will befall him.

The most striking couplet of the ghazal is the second, which is built like a hunting scene. Union is the hümâ flying in the sky. The hümâ is a legendary bird regarded in Turkish and Iranian belief as the bird of sovereignty; it was believed that the person on whom its shadow fell would become a ruler and that it could not be caught alive, and in divan poetry it mostly stands for unattainable union. The poet likens his poetry to a falcon (şehbâz) and his nature to the hand that carries the falcon, and says that he has hunted this uncatchable bird with his poetry. This metaphor, which brings together the noblest of birds and the falcon, is a boast (tefahür) in the power of poetry. Kılıç notes that couplets in which Şâhî mentions his own poetry are rare in the divan; this couplet can be added to those few examples.

In the third couplet the word "cihân" (world) is repeated in both lines: the sun that lights the world has no equal anywhere in the world. In the fourth couplet the heart becomes a treasury (genc); the riches placed in it are the images of the mouth, the stature and the lock. The use together of "mâl" (wealth) and "mâldâr" (wealthy), words from the same root, is a figure of derivation (iştikak). In the last couplet the word "mihr" means both sun and love; the sun of the cheek is at the same time the love felt for the cheek. The lover has made his dwelling fire, like the salamander that was believed to live in fire. The words "göz göre" (with eyes open) show that this burning was chosen knowingly and tie the ghazal back to "ihtiyâr itdüm" (I chose it) in the opening couplet.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 97, ghazal no. 104 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225); also p. 29 (refrains) and p. 42 (couplets in which the poet mentions his own poetry), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.
  • Cemal Kurnaz, "Hümâ", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 18, İstanbul 1998, p. 478. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/huma

Online sources