Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün

Nâle kılsam kûhlar dem-sâz olur cânân içün
Ol gözi âhû-yı Çîn ol gamzesi fettân içün
Sür hayâl-i dostdan gayrısın ey dil dîdeden
Gayrıdan hâlî gerek lâbüd serâ sultân içün
Gamzene bir kez işâret eyle kurtarsın beni
Çeşm-i cellâdun yeter işkence eyler cân içün
İstesem vaslun tabîbâ n’ola yüz bin cân ile
Kim ola kim derdine sa’y itmeye dermân içün
Dürr-i nazmun sakla Şâhî pâyına bezl itmege
Şark u garbun serveri Sultân Süleymân Hân içün

In English

1. If I moan for the beloved, that one with eyes of the deer of China and a mischievous glance, the mountains echo and keep me company.

2. O heart, drive from your eyes everything but the image of the friend; the palace must be emptied of others for the sultan.

3. Give your glance a single sign so that it may set me free; the torture your executioner eye inflicts on the soul is enough.

4. O physician, is it any wonder if I desire union with you with a hundred thousand lives? Who is there who would not strive for a cure for his pain?

5. Şâhî, keep the pearls of your verse to strew at the feet of Sultan Süleyman Han, the lord of East and West.

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 "içün" (for), and the rhyme is the "-ân" sound in "cânân, fettân, sultân, cân, dermân, Hân". Kılıç counts the redif "içün" among the refrains of the divan. In the edition the folio mark [47a] stands after the fourth couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first four couplets form a love ghazal written to the beloved. In the opening couplet the mountains echoing the lover's moan is a hyperbole that recalls Ferhad's sharing of his grief with the mountains in divan poetry. "Âhû-yı Çîn" (the deer of China) describes the beloved's large, dark eye. In the second couplet the heart is likened to a palace and the beloved to the sultan who will come to that palace; just as the place the sultan enters must be emptied of others, the heart is asked to be cleansed of everything but the image of the friend. In the third couplet the eye is the executioner and the glance is like an attendant waiting for the executioner's sign; the lover would rather die by a single sign than have the torture prolonged. In the fourth couplet the beloved is the physician and union is the cure.

The closing couplet changes the whole direction of the ghazal. The poet advises himself to keep the pearls of his verse for "Şark u garbun serveri Sultân Süleymân Hân" (Sultan Süleyman Han, the lord of East and West). The words "dürr-i nazm" (pearl of verse), "bezl" (strewing, giving generously) and "pây" (foot) form a congruence of images (tenasüp): strewing pearls at the padishah's feet describes the offering of a precious gift. The redif "içün" also finds its true sense in this couplet; the ghazal that began for the beloved ends for the sultan.

Historical Context

Kılıç quotes this closing couplet in two places. In one, she says that in some couplets Şâhî takes the position of a poet praising his padishah and gives the couplet as an example of this. In the other, she lists the few couplets in which Şâhî praises his own poetry and notes that in this couplet the poet praises his father's sultanate together with his own verse, wishing to strew his pearl-scattering poems at his sultan's feet. In the introduction the couplet is cited as "G124/5"; its number in the text is 125. In one of Kılıç's quotations the word "bezl" is typeset as "bezi"; the text has it in its correct form, "bezl". The edition does not state in which year the ghazal was written. That Süleyman's name is mentioned in the last couplet of a love ghazal like a gift to be offered to the father suggests that the poem may have been composed as a presentation or dedication; this inference is ours.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 106-107, ghazal no. 125 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 47a); also p. 29 (refrains), p. 36 (couplets praising the padishah), p. 42 (quotation of the fifth couplet under the reference "G124/5" among the couplets in which the poet praises his own poetry), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources