Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Fe’ûlün

Firâkun cânuma kâr itdi gâyet
Gamundan olmadum ‘âlemde râhat
Kapuna hecr elinden dâda geldüm
‘İnâyet eyle ey şâhum ‘inâyet
Gam-ı ‘ışkunla ‘uşşâkun cihânda
Melâmetdür benüm şâhum melâmet
Irakdan kûşe-i çeşm ile geh gâh
Nazar ‘ayn-ı ‘inâyetdür ‘inâyet
Gözüm yaşı ciğerde derd-i ‘ışka
‘Alâmetdür ‘alâmetdür ‘alâmet
Tavâf-ı Ka’be-i kûyun habîbüm
‘İbâdetdür ‘ibâdetdür ‘ibâdet
Saçundan çekdügin Şâhî yazarsa
Dırâz olur dükenmez bu hikâyet

In English

1. Separation from you has worked upon my soul to the utmost; through grief for you I have found no rest in the world.

2. I have come to your door to seek justice against the hand of separation; O my king, show favour, favour.

3. Through the grief of love for you, the lot of lovers in this world is blame, my king, blame.

4. A glance now and then from afar out of the corner of the eye is the very essence of favour, favour.

5. The tears of my eyes are the sign of the pain of love in my liver, the sign, the sign.

6. My beloved, to circle the Kaaba of your street is worship, worship, worship.

7. If Şâhî should write what he has suffered from your hair, it would grow long; this tale has no end.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal of seven couplets is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün fe'ûlün" pattern of the hezec family. There is no redif; the rhyme is formed by the "-et / -at" sound in the words "gâyet, râhat, 'inâyet, melâmet, 'alâmet, 'ibâdet, hikâyet". The word "'inâyet" (favour) serves twice as rhyme, in the second and fourth couplets. The pen name appears in the last couplet.

The ghazal is one of the combined texts of the edition. According to Kılıç's footnote, the first three couplets stand on folio 7b of the manuscript and the other four on folio 11a. Taking into account that the four couplets on 11a lack an opening couplet, that the metre of the two parts is the same, and that the manner of expression is similar, Kılıç treated them as a single ghazal. The word "çeşm" (eye) in the first line of the fourth couplet appears in the manuscript as "hışm" (anger); Kılıç read "çeşm" in accordance with the sense. The harmony between the corner of the eye (kûşe-i çeşm) and "'ayn" (eye) in the second line supports this correction; this assessment is our own.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The most striking feature of the ghazal is repetition (tekrir). In the second, third and fourth couplets the rhyme word is said once more at the beginning or in the middle of the second line ("'inâyet eyle ey şâhum 'inâyet", "melâmetdür benüm şâhum melâmet"); in the fifth and sixth couplets the same word comes three times in a row in the line ("'alâmetdür 'alâmetdür 'alâmet", "'ibâdetdür 'ibâdetdür 'ibâdet"). Although these repetitions might suggest that two separate pieces have been joined, they give the whole ghazal the music of prayer and litany. This is also one of the similarities supporting the combination; the second couplet belongs to the first part and the fifth and sixth to the second, which shows the same habit of repetition in both parts.

In the second couplet the poet comes to the beloved's door to seek justice (dâd) against separation; the address "şâhum" (my king) makes this couplet read like a petition to the imperial council. The third couplet says that love's reward in this world is melamet, that is, blame. In the fourth couplet the phrase "'ayn-ı 'inâyet" means both "the very essence of favour" and "the eye of favour"; read together with the glance cast from the corner of the eye, the double entendre (tevriye) becomes clear. In the sixth couplet the beloved's street is likened to the Kaaba, and going to and fro there to the ritual circling; the adaptation of religious terms to love is common in divan poetry. In the last couplet the length of the hair and the length of the tale meet in the word "dırâz" (long): were the sufferings caused by the hair written down, the account would grow long like the hair.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 53, ghazal no. 13 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 7b and 11a); footnotes 97-98, https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources