Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

‘Âşıka dil virmeyen dil-dâr elinden el-gıyâs
Kâmetüm dâl eyleyen mekkâr elinden el-gıyâs
Şol kadar kan agladum hecrün şebinde ben garîb
Bülbüle rahm itmeyen gülzâr elinden el-gıyâs
Ney gibi bagrum delindi inlerüm ben derdden
Ol rakîb-i kâfir-i bed-kâr elinden el-gıyâs
Gözlerüm yaşı ile kana boyadum ‘âlemi
İnlerüm bu dîde-i hûn-bâr elinden el-gıyâs
Göreli câdû gözin Allâh ki meftûn olmışam
Şâhiyâ ol dil-ber-i sehhâr elinden el-gıyâs

In English

1. Help against the beloved who gives no heart to the lover; help against the deceiver who has bent my stature like the letter dâl.

2. Poor stranger that I am, I wept so much blood in the night of your absence; help against the rose garden that has no pity on the nightingale.

3. Like the reed flute my breast is pierced through, I moan from pain; help against that infidel, evil-doing rival.

4. With the tears of my eyes I have dyed the world in blood; I moan, help against this blood-raining eye.

5. O Şâhî, by God, since I saw her sorcerous eye I have been enthralled; help against that enchanting charmer.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal of five couplets is written in the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern and stands on folio 11b of the manuscript. The redif is "elinden el-gıyâs". "El-gıyâs" is a call for help of Arabic origin meaning "help, come to my aid"; Kılıç counts it among the redifs of the divan. The rhyme is formed by the "-âr" sound in the words "dil-dâr, mekkâr, gülzâr, bed-kâr, hûn-bâr, sehhâr". The pen name appears in the last couplet. G.15, which immediately follows in the edition, is written with the same redif and the same metre.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Each couplet of the ghazal ends with a complaint against something that ruins the lover: the beloved who gives no heart, the deceitful beauty, the rose garden that has no pity on the nightingale, the infidel rival, the blood-raining eye and the sorcerous charmer. The repetition of the redif at the end of every line gives the poem the music of a lament. The second line of the opening couplet contains a letter simile: the lover's stature is likened to the curved letter "dâl"; in divan poetry the body bent double by pain is often described with this letter.

The second couplet treats the theme of the rose and the nightingale. The nightingale is the lover and the rose garden the beloved; the lover who weeps blood all night is like the nightingale crying out against the rose that has no pity on him. In the third couplet the lover's pierced breast is likened to the reed flute (ney); the holes of the flute and its moaning voice form the two sides of this simile. The same line occurs in almost the same words in G.78, the ghazal with the redif "'ışk" quoted by Kılıç in the introduction ("Ney gibi bagrum delindi inlerem feryâd idüp"); this closeness is our own observation. The fourth couplet rests on the hyperbole of the world dyed in blood by tears, and this time turns its reproach against the lover's own eye.

In the last couplet the beloved's eye is called "câdû" (sorcerer) and the beloved herself "sehhâr" (enchanting). The meeting of two words relating to magic in the same couplet forms a congruence of images (tenasüp). The words "Allâh ki" (by God) are an utterance close to everyday speech that reinforces the poet's enthralment with an oath. The ghazal contains nothing that points to a person or an event; it is not known to whom or when it 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. 53-54, ghazal no. 14 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 11b); also p. 29 (redifs) and p. 40 (G.78), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources