Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün
Kime kul olsun gönül sen gibi yârüm var iken
Pâdişâh-ı taht-gîr u tâc-dârum var iken
Ben bana itdüm ki virdüm sana elden gönlümi
Elde eller gibi sabr u ihtiyârum var iken
Çöpce gelmez ‘aynuma tâc u serîr-i saltanat
Câm-ı mey gibi muvâfık gam-güsârum var iken
Dâmen-i kuhsâr seyrin istemez gönlüm benüm
Ruhlarun gibi nazarda lâle-zârum var iken
Bana böyle pây-mâl olmak kapunda yol mıdur
Sen gibi bir şâh-ı âdil kâm-kârum var iken
Bülbül-i dil seyr-i gülzâr istemez ey serv-kad
Bir senün gibi semen-ber gül-’izârum var iken
Kanda bulsun mîr-i ‘ıyşa ceyş-i gam Şâhî zafer
Künc-i gam-hâne gibi muhkem hisârum var iken
Dergehünde gayrılardan hor tutmak yol mıdur
Böyle şâhâne kelâma iktidârum var iken
In English
1. While I have a beloved like you, a padishah who holds the throne and wears the crown, to whom should the heart become a servant?
2. While I had patience and will in hand like others, I did this to myself by giving my heart out of my hands to you.
3. While I have a sympathetic companion in sorrow like the wine cup, the crown and throne of sovereignty do not seem to my eye worth even a straw.
4. While I have a tulip garden before my eyes like your cheeks, my heart does not wish to gaze at the mountain slopes.
5. While I have a just shah like you whose wishes are fulfilled, is it right that I should be trampled underfoot like this at your door?
6. O cypress-statured one, while I have a jasmine-breasted, rose-cheeked beloved like you, the nightingale of the heart does not wish to gaze at the rose garden.
7. O Şâhî, while I have a fortress as strong as the corner of the house of grief, where should the army of grief find victory over the lord of revelry?
8. While I have the power to speak such royal words, is it right to hold me lower than others at your court?
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The eight-couplet ghazal is written in the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern. The redif (refrain word) is "var iken" (while I have), and the rhyme is the "-âr" sound in "yâr, tâc-dâr, ihtiyâr, gam-güsâr, lâle-zâr, kâm-kâr, gül-'izâr, hisâr, iktidâr" followed by the suffix "-um". Kılıç lists "var iken" among the refrains of the divan. In the edition the folio mark 42b stands at the end of the seventh couplet. The addressee is not stated.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
In each couplet the redif sets up a comparison: "while" something more valuable is at hand, there is no need for anything else. While there is the beloved, one becomes no one else's servant; while there is the cup, crown and throne lose their worth in the eye; while there is the cheek, no one looks at the tulip garden, and while there is the rose-faced beloved, no one looks at the rose garden. The second couplet is a sound play on the word "el": "elden" (out of one's hands), "elde" (in hand) and "eller" (others) are used with different meanings within the same lines. This rests on the figure of paronomasia (cinas). In the third couplet a prince says that the crown and throne of sovereignty do not seem worth even a straw to him; this is an example, from the pen of a candidate for the throne, of the disdain for worldly goods frequently met in divan poetry.
The seventh couplet is a military metaphor and is obscure. The "ceyş-i gam" (army of grief) cannot win victory over the "mîr-i 'ıyş" (lord of revelry), because the poet has a fortress as strong as the "künc-i gam-hâne" (the corner of the house of grief). The couplet seems to say that the lover who lives within grief is now too well protected to be touched by grief; this reading is ours. The phrase "şâhâne kelâm" (royal words) in the last couplet comes from the same root as the poet's pen name "Şâhî" and creates a play on words. Here the poet trusts in his own poetry; Kılıç notes that couplets in which Şâhî mentions his own poetry are rare in the divan.
Historical Context
Kılıç does not mention this ghazal. In the opening couplet the beloved is called "pâdişâh-ı taht-gîr u tâc-dâr" (a padishah who holds the throne and wears the crown), and in the fifth couplet "şâh-ı 'âdil" (just shah). In the fifth and eighth couplets the lover complains that he is trampled underfoot at this padishah's door and held lower than others. According to Kılıç, after the Nakhchivan campaign Süleyman's favour towards Selim increased, while Bayezid's claims began to worry the padishah. These couplets can be read as the voice of a prince who feels pushed into second place in his father's eyes; but the poem contains no name or date, and this is only our reading.
Bibliography
- Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 101, ghazal no. 112 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 42b); also p. 10 (Süleyman's favour towards Selim after the Nakhchivan campaign), 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.
Online sources
