Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Fe’ûlün

Gel ey serv-i revânum kaçma benden
Enîsüm yâr-ı cânum kaçma benden
Bana sensüz cihânda cân gerekmez
Sözümde yok yalanum kaçma benden
Ten-i fersûdemi bî-cân koyup
Hayât-ı câvidânum kaçma benden
Gulâmun hecr ile nâ-kâm koyup
Efendüm kâmrânum kaçma benden
Koyup Hüsrev gibi Şâhî mubibbün
Benüm şîrîn zebânum kaçma benden

In English

1. Come, O my swaying cypress, do not flee from me; O my intimate friend, beloved of my soul, do not flee from me.

2. Without you I need no soul in this world; there is no lie in my words, do not flee from me.

3. Leaving my worn-out body lifeless, O my eternal life, do not flee from me.

4. Leaving your servant without his wish through separation, O my master whose wishes are fulfilled, do not flee from me.

5. Leaving Şâhî, who loves you, like Hüsrev, O my sweet-tongued (Şîrîn) beloved, do not flee from me.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The five-couplet ghazal is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün fe'ûlün" pattern. The redif (refrain word) is "kaçma benden" (do not flee from me), and the rhyme is the "-an/-ân" sound in "revân, cân, yalan, câvidân, kâmrân, zebân" followed by the suffix "-um". Since the Turkish word "yalan" (lie) in the second couplet has no long vowel, the rhyme there holds only in sound. Kılıç lists "benden" among the refrains of the divan. In the edition the folio mark 43a stands at the end of the opening couplet. The addressee is not stated.

There are two places in the edition that must be pointed out without altering the text. The first lines of the third and fourth couplets ("Ten-i fersûdemi bî-cân koyup", "Gulâmun hecr ile nâ-kâm koyup") are each one syllable shorter than the other lines and do not fill the metrical pattern. The word "mubibbün" in the fifth couplet should, for sense and metre, be "muhibbün" (your lover); it appears to be a typesetting error. Both places are printed this way in the PDF image as well; the observations are ours.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is a short appeal, each couplet ending with the same entreaty. The redif "kaçma benden" conveys, with a simplicity close to everyday speech, the voice of a lover who wants to stop the beloved from going away. In each couplet the beloved is named differently: swaying cypress, companion of the soul, eternal life, master, sweet-tongued beloved. In the third couplet "bî-cân" (lifeless) and "hayât-ı câvidân" (eternal life) face each other; if the beloved flees, the body will be left lifeless, for its life is the beloved. This is antithesis (tezat). In the fourth couplet the same opposition is set up between "nâ-kâm" (without his wish) and "kâmrân" (whose wishes are fulfilled): the servant is left without his wish while his master has his. The relation between "gulâm" (servant) and "efendüm" (my master) also gives the couplet a courtly air.

The closing couplet alludes to the story of Hüsrev and Şîrîn. The poet likens himself to Hüsrev, abandoned by his beloved, and the beloved to Şîrîn by calling him "şîrîn zebân" (sweet-tongued); the word "şîrîn" is read both as "sweet" and as the name of the heroine of the story. In ghazal 93 Şâhî had praised himself as "the Hüsrev of love"; here Hüsrev is instead the abandoned lover.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 102, ghazal no. 114 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 43a); also p. 29 (refrains), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources