Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün
Gül gibi gül sen ben ey rûh-ı revân aglayayın
Bülbül-âsâ ey şeh-i gonce-dehân aglayayın
Çün müyesser olmadı vaslunla gülmek muttasıl
Varayın fürkat diyârında hemân aglayayın
Devlet ü ikbâl ile sen şâdmân u hurrem ol
Derd-i hecrünle ben ey rûh-ı revân aglayayın
Çün nasîbümmiş ezelden fürkatünle aglamak
Varayın hecrünle ey şâh-ı cihân aglayayın
Fürkate saldı felek Şâhî ne çâre âh idüp
Çeşm-i hûn-efşân u giryânumla kan aglayayın
In English
1. O my flowing soul, you laugh like the rose, and let me weep; O rosebud-mouthed shah, let me weep like the nightingale.
2. Since it was not granted me to laugh forever in union with you, let me go to the land of separation and weep there.
3. May you be joyful and glad in fortune and prosperity; O my flowing soul, let me weep with the pain of your absence.
4. Since my lot from eternity was to weep in your absence, O shah of the world, let me go and weep in your absence.
5. Şâhî, the sky has cast me into separation, there is no help for it; sighing, let me weep blood with my blood-shedding, tearful eyes.
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 is "aglayayın" (let me weep), and the rhyme is the "-ân" sound in "revân, dehân, hemân, revân, cihân, kan". The address "ey rûh-ı revân" (O flowing soul) in the first line of the opening couplet is repeated word for word in the second line of the third couplet; the rhyme word "revân" is thus used twice. Kılıç counts the redif "aglayayın" among the refrains of the divan. In the edition the folio mark [46b] stands after the first couplet.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The first line of the ghazal opens with a pun: in "Gül gibi gül" the first "gül" is the rose and the second "gül" is the verb "to laugh". The contrast between the laughing rose and the weeping nightingale is one of the best-known motifs of divan poetry; the beloved opens and laughs like the rose, the lover moans like the nightingale. The whole ghazal is built on this antithesis: on one side the beloved in joy, fortune and prosperity, on the other the lover weeping in the land of separation. The redif "aglayayın" is an optative; the lover accepts weeping as a fate and even chooses it for himself like a duty.
In the fourth couplet this acceptance is explained by the notion of "ezel" (pre-eternity): weeping in separation is a share given to the lover before creation. In the last couplet the responsibility is laid on the sky; the expressions "çeşm-i hûn-efşân" (blood-shedding eye) and "kan aglamak" (to weep blood) carry the image of bloody tears that expresses the utmost degree of pain in divan poetry.
The attributes given to the addressee of the ghazal draw attention. The beloved is called "şeh-i gonce-dehân" (rosebud-mouthed shah) and "şâh-ı cihân" (shah of the world); he is wished to be happy "devlet ü ikbâl ile" (in fortune and prosperity). The lover, for his part, will go to the "fürkat diyârı" (land of separation). In another ghazal that Kılıç thinks is addressed to Süleyman, she cites the line "Kalmışam fürkat diyârında" (I have stayed in the land of separation) and sees in such poems Bayezid's being far from his father. It is possible to read this ghazal, too, as the voice of a son parted from his father; but Kılıç does not mention this ghazal and there is no explicit sign in the text. This reading is ours. Since the words "şâh-ı cihân" and "devlet ü ikbâl" are also often used for the beloved in divan poetry, reading the ghazal entirely as a love poem is equally possible.
Bibliography
- Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 106, ghazal no. 124 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 46b); also p. 29 (refrains), p. 33 ("fürkat diyârı" and the ghazals addressed to the father), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.
Online sources
