Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün
Şehâ burc-ı melâhatde kaşun göster helâk eyle
İrişdür kullarun ‘ıyda tecellî-i cemâl eyle
Leb-i cânân gibi bagrum yeter hecr ile hûn eyle
Ser-i zülfün gibi gönlüm yeter âşüfte-hâl eyle
Niçün düşdün diyü sevdâ-yı haddüme çeküp hattun
Dilüm mûr ayagı altında yatur pây-mâl eyle
Çemende serv ü gül hadden aşurdı şîve vü nâzı
Gel ey bâlâ-bülendüm ol yana gunc u delâl eyle
Eger ol çeşm-i mest kanun içerse nûş-ı cân olsun
Sen anı cânuna minnet bilüp ey dil helâl eyle
İrüşdün ‘ıyda ey dil çünki vaslına el irmek yok
Otur bir kûşede câma el ur def’-i melâl eyle
Çü gördük i’tibâr itmez kulagına alup dil-ber
Dür-i nazmun sunup Şâhî yeter arz-ı kemâl eyle
In English
1. O shah, show your brow in the constellation of beauty and slay us; bring your servants to the feast by revealing your beauty.
2. Enough of turning my breast to blood with separation like the beloved's lip; enough of making my heart distraught like the tip of your locks.
3. Saying "Why have you fallen in love with my cheek?", you drew the down on your cheek and left my heart under the feet of ants; trample it then.
4. In the meadow the cypress and the rose have carried their grace and coquetry beyond all bounds; come, my tall one, show your coyness and allure over there.
5. O heart, if that drunken eye drinks your blood, may it be a draught of life to it; count it a favour to your soul and let it have your blood freely.
6. O heart, you have reached the feast; since your hand cannot reach union with her, sit in a corner, reach for the cup and drive away your gloom.
7. We have seen that the charmer pays no heed and does not take it to her ear; Şâhî, it is enough to offer the pearl of your verse and display your skill.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The seven-couplet ghazal is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün" pattern. The redif is "eyle" (make, do), and the rhyme is the "-âl" sound in "cemâl, âşüfte-hâl, pây-mâl, delâl, helâl, melâl, kemâl". Kılıç counts the redif "eyle" among the refrains of the divan. In the edition the folio mark [52b] stands after the fifth couplet.
In the second couplet both lines are built on the same sequence of words: "Leb-i cânân gibi bagrum yeter hecr ile hûn eyle" and "Ser-i zülfün gibi gönlüm yeter âşüfte-hâl eyle". The correspondence of the words to each other gives the lines a strong harmony; the first line, although it ends with the redif, has no rhyme.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The feast forms the frame of the ghazal. In the opening couplet the beloved's brow is likened to the crescent moon of the feast seen in the constellation of beauty. When the crescent is sighted the feast begins; if the beloved shows her brow, her servants too reach the feast. The word "burc" suggests both a constellation in the sky and the tower of a castle. The sixth couplet mentions the feast again: the heart has reached the feast but its hand cannot reach union, so it must console itself with the cup in a corner. The joy of the feast is thus spoken together with the sadness of being without union.
The third couplet is obscure. "Hatt" is the fine down on the cheek; the same word also means writing. In divan poetry these hairs are likened to ants. The couplet can be understood as the down appearing on the beloved's cheek crushing the lover's heart under the feet of ants; this reading is ours. "Gunc u delâl" in the fourth couplet means, according to Kubbealtı Lugatı, coquetry and airs. The fifth couplet uses the idiom "to make one's blood lawful" (to forgive one's own killing). The heart must consent to the drunken eye drinking its blood and count it a favour.
Historical Context
In the ghazal the addressee is called "Şehâ" (O shah), and with the word "kullarun" (your servants) the relation between a ruler and his servants is evoked. Kılıç does not count this ghazal among the poems addressed to the father. In the divan the immediately preceding ghazal also uses the feast and the address to the padishah together; Kılıç presents that ghazal among the poems awaiting mercy from the padishah. That the two ghazals stand side by side and carry the same image of the feast suggests that they may have been written on the same occasion; this inference is ours. In the closing couplet the poet, seeing that the beloved pays no heed, contents himself with offering the "dür-i nazm" (pearl of verse). The same expression appears in the last couplet of Ghazal 125, which Kılıç quotes as the couplet praising Süleyman.
Bibliography
- Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 114-115, ghazal no. 142 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 52b); also p. 29 (refrains), pp. 32-33 (quotation of the preceding ghazal among the poems awaiting the padishah's mercy), p. 36 (the couplet praising Süleyman with the expression "dürr-i nazm"), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.
- Kubbealtı Lugatı, entry "gunc". https://eski.lugatim.com/s/gunc
Online sources
