Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ben umardum iki ‘ıyd idem bu yıl bir ayda
İrmedüm ‘ıyd-ı visâle kaldum âh u vâyda
Hâk-i pâyuna ne vardı cân atup yüz sürmeğe
Olmasa zencîr-i va’dün gibi mâni’ pâyda
Ben nice cân virmeyem cânâ cevâb-ı la’lüne
Bulmadum sözün safâsın ben sadâ-yı nâyda
Bendeni derd ü gam-ı hecrün helâk idüp gider
Fürkat-ı kattâlüne billâh şâhum hâyda
Pâdişâhum cânibinden olmayınca merhamet
Sa’y-ı Şâhî eylemezmiş zerre denlü fâyda

In English

1. I had hoped to celebrate two feasts this year in a single month; I did not reach the feast of union, and was left with sighs and laments.

2. Were there not an obstacle on my feet like the chain of your promise, what would stop me from throwing my soul at the dust of your feet and rubbing my face on it?

3. O beloved, how should I not give my life for the answer of your ruby lip? I have not found the delight of your words even in the sound of the reed flute.

4. The pain and sorrow of your absence are destroying your servant; for God's sake, my shah, hayda to your murderous separation.

5. Unless there is mercy from my padishah's side, it seems Şâhî's striving is of not an atom's worth of use.

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. Every couplet ends with the locative suffix "-da"; the rhyme is the "-âyda" sound in "ayda, vâyda, pâyda, nâyda, hâyda, fâyda". In the edition the folio mark [52a] stands after the second couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet describes the expectation of a feast: the poet had hoped to celebrate two feasts within one month this year, but did not reach the "'ıyd-ı visâl" (the feast of union). It may be thought that one of the two feasts is the feast of the calendar and the other is reunion; this reading is ours. In the second couplet the promise is likened to a chain: what keeps the lover from running to the beloved's feet is the fetter that a given word has put on his feet. The word "hâyda" in the fourth couplet is obscure. Kubbealtı Lugatı gives "hayda" as an interjection used when driving animals forward and expressing astonishment. The couplet can be understood as separation driving the servant before it, or as an exclamation of astonishment meaning "what is this".

Historical Context

Kılıç quotes this ghazal in full and presents it among the poems in which mercy is expected from the padishah. In her view these poems contain a son who awaits letters from his father and wishes to be asked after. The line "Pâdişâhum cânibinden olmayınca merhamet" (unless there is mercy from my padishah's side) in the last couplet plainly supports this reading. According to Kılıç's biographical chapter, while Süleyman was putting Bayezid off "with consoling promises", the prince turned to accusing his father, saying "does one who is padishah tell lies?". The expression "zencîr-i va'd" (chain of promise) in the second couplet can be associated with this situation; this connection is ours.

Kılıç also quotes the third couplet when discussing whether Bayezid belonged to a Sufi order. In her view there is no information on this, and the Sufi elements in the poems are used as instruments of the divan tradition; yet this couplet, which speaks of the sound of the reed flute, has led to the thought that the poet might have been a Mevlevi. In the introduction the ghazal is cited as "G140"; its number in the text is 141. There are small differences between Kılıç's two quotations: one reads "câna" and "satasın", the other "cânâ" and "safâsın"; in the second quotation the fourth couplet appears as "der ü gam" and "Fürkat kattâlüne bi'llâh". The text has the forms "safâsın", "derd ü gam" and "Fürkat-ı kattâlüne billâh"; the text has not been altered.

In the next ghazal, too, the feast and the address to a shah are used together. That the two ghazals may have been written on the occasion of the same feast is our conjecture.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 114, ghazal no. 141 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 52a); also p. 12 (Süleyman's promises), p. 26 (quotation of the third couplet under the reference "G140/3" in the discussion of Mevlevi affiliation), pp. 32-33 (full quotation of the ghazal under the reference "G140"), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.
  • Kubbealtı Lugatı, entry "hayda". https://eski.lugatim.com/s/hayda

Online sources