Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Fe’ûlün

Murâdum niçe sâl u niçe demden
Hemân bir bûsedür ol gonce-femden
Bize sâkî lebünden sun şarâbı
Gerekmez âb-ı Hızrı câm-ı Cemden
Firâk-ı kâmet ü zülf ü dehânun
Beni kurtarmadı hergiz elemden
Hatun endîşesiyle gamda kaldum
Halâs olmak bana yok mı bu gamdan
Ser-i kûyun bana ey serv-kâmet
Cihânda yig gelür bâg-ı İremden
Cemâlün seyrine serv ey gül-endâm
Başını taşra kaldurmış haremden
Visâlün ‘âşıka yigdür habîbüm
Cihânda tâc u taht u mülk-i Cemden
Eyüler pîşesidür eylük itmek
Dilâ eylük recâsın itme kemden
Cenâbundan vefâ umar bu Şâhî
Keremdür umulan ehl-i keremden

In English

1. For so many years, for so long, my wish has been only a single kiss from that rosebud-mouthed one.

2. Cupbearer, offer us wine from your lip; we need neither Khidr's water of life nor Jamshid's cup.

3. Separation from your stature, your lock and your mouth has never once freed me from sorrow.

4. I am left in grief by the thought of the down on your cheek; is there no escape for me from this grief?

5. O cypress-statured one, the head of your street seems better to me than the Garden of Irem in this world.

6. O rose-bodied one, the cypress has raised its head out of the enclosure to gaze at your beauty.

7. My beloved, in this world union with you is better for the lover than crown and throne and the realm of Jamshid.

8. The craft of the good is to do good; O heart, do not hope for goodness from the base.

9. This Şâhî hopes for faithfulness from your presence; generosity is what is hoped for from the generous.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The nine-couplet ghazal is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün fe'ûlün" pattern. The redif (refrain word) is the ablative suffix "-den" (from), and the rhyme is the final "m" sound of the words "fem, Cem, elem, gam, İrem, harem, kem, kerem" and the vowel before it. The rhyme word "Cemden" is used twice, in the second and seventh couplets. "Gamdan" in the fourth couplet is written with "-dan" in transliteration; in the Arabic script the suffix has a single form and the rhyme is regular. In the edition the folio mark 41a stands at the end of the fourth couplet. The addressee is not stated.

Ghazal 110, which immediately follows in the edition, shares the metre, redif and rhyme of this poem. The rhymes "gonce-femden, Cemden, elemden, İremden, haremden, keremden" occur in both ghazals; the last line of this ghazal ("Keremdür umulan ehl-i keremden") is repeated letter for letter in the fifth couplet of ghazal 110. The triad of stature, lock and mouth ("kâmet ü zülf ü dehân") of the third couplet also appears in the closing couplet of ghazal 110 in the form "kad ü zülf ü dehân". The two poems were probably written one after the other on the same ground; this observation is ours.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Most of the ghazal rests on comparison: everything belonging to the beloved surpasses the most precious things of legend. In the second couplet the wine offered from the beloved's lip is preferred to the water of immortality found by Khidr and to the cup of Jamshid (Cem), the legendary Iranian king. In the fifth couplet the beloved's street is better than the Garden of Irem, in the seventh union is better than crown and throne and the realm of Jamshid. These allusions (telmih) also build a congruence of images (tenasüp) across the couplets. The words preferring union to "tâc u taht" (crown and throne), coming from the pen of a prince, are a familiar expression of divan poetry; Kılıç too draws attention to Şâhî's couplets of advice on the transience of crown, throne and sovereignty.

The sixth couplet is an example of poetic aetiology (hüsn-i ta'lîl): the reason the cypress is so tall is that it has stretched its head out over the garden wall, the "harem" (enclosure), to see the beloved's beauty. The eighth couplet is built as a proverb-like piece of advice: the work of the good is goodness, and no goodness is to be expected from the base. Here there is a figure of derivation (iştikak) between "eyü" and "eylük" (good and goodness). The closing couplet repeats the same structure between "kerem" (generosity) and "ehl-i kerem" (the generous) and closes the ghazal with a sentence of entreaty. These words are very close to the sentence "Kulun işi daim hatadır, kerîm işi dâim lutf u keremdir" (the servant's work is always error, the generous one's work is always kindness and generosity) in a letter, quoted by Kılıç, in which Bayezid begs his father's pardon; the similarity was noticed by us.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 99-100, ghazal no. 109 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 41a); also p. 8 (Bayezid's letter to his father), p. 41 (couplets of advice on the transience of sovereignty) and p. 100 (ghazal 110), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources