Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün

Ben öldüm derd-i hasretle be hey zâlim cüdâ senden
Kıyâmetde dahı almaya mı dâdum Hudâ senden
Şeh-i mülk-i sitemmişsin terahhum yog imiş sende
Nedür bu çekdügüm cevr ü cefâ ey bî-vefâ senden
Cihânun mâl ü mülkini virürsün ‘aynına almaz
‘Atâ-yı vaslun ister pâdişâhum ben gedâ senden
Tapundan ey şehenşâh-ı serîr-i mülk-i istignâ
Murâdum pây-bûsundur taleb benden atâ senden
Figân u nâle itdükçe cefâ vü cevrün arturdun
Nedür ey cevri çok zâlim bana bunca belâ senden
Beni hecr ile öldürdün şikâyet bî-nihâyetdür
Huzûr-ı Hakka varınca begüm rûz-ı cezâ senden
Bana sensüz cihân u cân gerekmez Tanrı hakkıçün
Hemân maksûd vaslundur dü ‘âlemde bana senden
N’ola ger terk-i nâz idüp selâma baş egemezsen
Bana gamzenle besdür bir kirişme merhabâ senden
Salup zülfün ayağına bu gönlüm pây-mâl itdün
Be-hey zâlim bunı kâfir dahi görmez revâ senden
Dehân u mû-miyânunca hele bir suç günâh olsa
Ne bâ’is oldı kim irdi bana zecr ü ‘anâ senden
Senün hod ‘âşıka cevre elünde ihtiyârun yok
Katı dîvânelük ancak vefâ ummak bana senden
Sen ol mihr-i sipihr-i saltanatsın kim münevverdür
Ser-â-ser hıtta-i Tebrîz tîh-i Kerbelâ senden
‘Acem mülkinde sen kayd u şikâr it gayrlerle şâd
Ko çeksün gussa-i hecri cüdâ ben mübtelâ senden
Cenâb-ı kâm-bahşundan cihân heb ber-murâd iken
Niçün nâ-kâm olanı ben ey şeh-i kişver-küşâ senden
Cevâb-ı sükker-âmîzün durur dil derdine dermân
Gubâr-ı hâk-i pâyundur gözüme tûtîya senden
Beni fürkat diyârında helâk eyler bu hasretler
Tabîbüm derd-i hecre ger irişmezse devâ senden
Ölem bu def’a dûr olam dimezdüm hâk-i pâyundan
Kim umardı bana bu itdügün zulmi koya senden
İrâdet tîgi hükminde koyup hem gerden-i cânı
Ne kim k’olursa hep minnet durur bana şehâ senden
Ko Şâhî yüzüne bakup gözinün nûrın artursın
Sen ol nûr-ı Hudâsın kim güneş alur ziyâ senden
Figân u nâle vü âhum benüm gûşuna almazsın
Bana ey cevri çok işte budur büyük belâ senden

In English

1. Hey you tyrant, I have died of the pain of longing, parted from you; will God not exact my right from you even at the Resurrection?

2. You are, it seems, the shah of the realm of cruelty; there is no mercy in you. O faithless one, what is this oppression and torment I suffer from you?

3. If you gave him the wealth and possessions of the world, he would not deign to look at them; my padishah, I, a beggar, ask of you the gift of union.

4. O emperor of the throne of the realm of self-sufficiency, my wish at your door is to kiss your foot; the asking is mine, the giving yours.

5. The more I cried out and moaned, the more you increased your cruelty and oppression; O tyrant of much oppression, what is all this affliction from you upon me?

6. You killed me with separation, my complaint is endless; my lord, until I come before God on the Day of Judgement, my complaint is against you.

7. By God, without you I need neither the world nor life; my only wish from you in both worlds is union with you.

8. What if you cannot put aside your coquetry and bow your head to a greeting; a single coy welcome from you with your glance is enough for me.

9. Letting your locks fall to your feet, you have trampled this heart of mine; hey you tyrant, not even an unbeliever would think this right of you.

10. Even if there were a fault, a sin as small as your mouth and your hair-thin waist, what was the cause that this rebuke and torment came upon me from you?

11. You have, after all, no choice in your hand about oppressing the lover; the real madness is my hoping for faithfulness from you.

12. You are that sun of the sky of sovereignty by which everything, from the region of Tabriz to the desert of Karbala, is lit.

13. In the land of Persia, go on hunting and capturing and rejoicing with others; let me, parted from you and smitten by you, suffer the grief of separation.

14. While the whole world has attained its wish from your wish-granting presence, O conquering shah, why should I be the one left without my wish by you?

15. Your sugared answer is the cure for the heart's pain; the dust of your feet is kohl from you for my eyes.

16. O my physician, if no cure from you reaches the pain of separation, these longings will destroy me in the land of exile.

17. I never thought that this time I would die and be far from the dust of your feet; who would have expected that this cruelty you have done me would come from you?

18. I have placed the neck of my soul under the command of the sword of your will; O shah, whatever may come, I count everything from you a favour.

19. Let Şâhî look at your face and increase the light of his eyes; you are that light of God from which even the sun takes its radiance.

20. You do not lend your ear to my cries, my moans and my sighs; O you of much oppression, this is the greatest affliction from you upon me.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The twenty-couplet ghazal is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün" pattern. The redif is "senden" (from you), and the rhyme is the "-â" sound in the series "Hudâ, bî-vefâ, gedâ, atâ, belâ…". The rhyme loosens in places: "bana" stands in the rhyme position in the seventh and eleventh couplets and "koya" in the seventeenth, and "belâ" is repeated in the fifth and twentieth couplets. In the edition the folio mark [81a] stands just before the ghazal and [48b] after its last couplet. Kılıç says that she considered whether the two long ghazals of 20 and 29 couplets in the divan were kasides, found that in content and in their parts they did not have the features of a kaside, and counts them as "gazel-i mutavvel" (long ghazals).

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is a long reproach. The addressee is called "zâlim" (tyrant), "bî-vefâ" (faithless), "şeh-i mülk-i sitem" (shah of the realm of cruelty), and is told that an account will be demanded on the Day of Resurrection. The same addressee is at the same time exalted as "pâdişâhum" (my padishah), "şehenşâh" (emperor), "şeh-i kişver-küşâ" (conquering shah) and "nûr-ı Hudâ" (light of God). Complaint and praise change places from couplet to couplet. "Kirişme" (girişme) in the eighth couplet is a coy sign made with the brow and the eye; "tîh" in the twelfth couplet means desert.

Historical Context

What sets the ghazal apart from the other love poems are the place names in the twelfth and thirteenth couplets: the sun of the addressee's sovereignty lights everything "from the region of Tabriz to the desert of Karbala"; while he hunts and captures "with others" in "the land of Persia", the lover suffers the grief of separation. Kılıç does not mention this ghazal. These couplets suggest that the ghazal may have been written during the years 1559-1562 that Bayezid spent in Iran; this inference is ours. According to Kılıç's biographical chapter, Bayezid was received with a splendid ceremony by Shah Tahmasb at Qazvin in October 1559, was imprisoned together with his sons on 16 April 1560, and in 1562 was handed over to the Ottoman envoys and killed.

Who the addressee is can be thought of in two ways. The word "kayd" in the phrase "kayd u şikâr" (binding and hunting) also means bond and chain; a shah who amuses himself "with others" in the land of Persia and condemns the lover to separation may suggest Tahmasb, who imprisoned Bayezid. On the other hand, the expressions "pâdişâhum", "hâk-i pây" (dust of the feet) and "cevâb-ı sükker-âmîz" (sweet answer, letter) in the fifteenth couplet can also be associated with the letters in which Bayezid awaited an answer from his father. In the last letter quoted by Kılıç, Bayezid writes that the care shown by the shah "did not come into his eyes" (meant nothing to him); the phrase "Cihânun mâl ü mülkini virürsün 'aynına almaz" in the third couplet carries the same feeling as this sentence. Both readings are ours; the text does not allow us to choose one of them with certainty.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 108-110, ghazal no. 130 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 48b); also pp. 13-16 (the years in Iran, Qazvin, imprisonment and death), p. 14 (the last letter to his father), p. 27 (the 20-couplet ghazal not counted as a kaside), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Academic studies

Books

Online sources