Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fe’ilâtün Fe’ilâtün Fe’ilâtün Fe’ilün

Vuslat elden gideyor dil nice handân olsun
Dem-i fürkat geliyor ney gibi nâlân olsun
Merdüm-i dîdelerüm vasluna irince yine
Gülüp oynamadan el yusun u giryân olsun
Eglesün tende revânum elem-i fürkat ile
Âteş-i hecr ile dil sînede sûzân olsun
Bârî mektûbla her lahzada yâd eyle beni
Süreyin gözlerüme derdüme dermân olsun
Derd ü hasretle bu Şâhî yine bir niçe zemân
Kûh u deşte düşüben vâlih ü hayrân olsun

In English

1. Union is slipping from my hands; how can the heart be cheerful? The hour of separation is coming; let it moan like the reed flute.

2. When the pupils of my eyes reach union with you again, let them, without laughing and playing, wash their hands of it and weep.

3. Let my soul linger in the body with the pain of separation; let the heart burn in the breast with the fire of absence.

4. At least remember me every moment with a letter; let me rub it on my eyes, and let it be a cure for my pain.

5. Let this Şâhî once again, for a while, fall into the mountains and the deserts with pain and longing, bewildered and amazed.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The five-couplet ghazal is written in the "fe'ilâtün fe'ilâtün fe'ilâtün fe'ilün" pattern. The redif is "olsun" (let it be), and the rhyme is the "-ân" sound in "handân, nâlân, giryân, sûzân, dermân, hayrân". Kılıç counts "olsun" among the refrains used in two ghazals of the divan. In the edition the folio mark [48a] stands after the second couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal describes a moment of farewell. In the opening couplet union "slips from the hands" and the time of separation "comes"; this contrast between going and coming builds the frame of the whole poem. The heart can no longer be "handân" (cheerful); it must moan like the reed flute. The moaning of the flute is the familiar image of the pain of separation in divan poetry. The redif "olsun" expresses in this ghazal an acceptance rather than a wish: the lover lists what will befall him and consents to each.

In the second couplet the compound "merdüm-i dîde" (pupil of the eye) is used. "Merdüm" also means "person" in Persian; the small image of a person seen in the pupil is the source of this name. The poet brings this "little person" to life as someone who laughs and plays, then asks him to "wash his hands". "El yumak" (to wash one's hands) means to give something up; the eye being washed with tears also merges with this idiom. In the third couplet the soul lingers in the body with the pain of separation, and the heart burns in the breast. The last couplet shows falling into the mountains and deserts like Mecnun as the lover's inevitable path.

Historical Context

The fourth couplet carries the most concrete request of the ghazal: the lover asks the beloved to remember him every moment with a letter and says that he will rub this letter on his eyes. Rubbing a letter on the eyes expresses respect and longing together. Kılıç notes that in Bayezid's poems addressed to his father there is "a son awaiting letters from his father"; she relates that Bayezid wrote many letters to his father, both to avoid going from Kütahya to Amasya and while he was in Iran, and that most of them remained unanswered. Kılıç does not count this ghazal among those poems. The air of farewell and the request for a letter suggest that the ghazal may have been written in the same mood; this reading is ours, and the edition does not state when the ghazal was written.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 107-108, ghazal no. 128 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 48a); also p. 29 (refrains), p. 32 (the son awaiting letters from his father), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.
  • Kubbealtı Lugatı, entry "merdüm" (in the sense of the pupil of the eye). https://eski.lugatim.com/s/merdüm

Online sources