Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef’ûlü Fâ’ilâtün Mef’ûlü Fâ’ilâtün

Bu cism-i nâ-tüvânum gören şerâr içinde
Sanur semenderem ben gûyâ ki nâr içinde
Fülk-i ten-i şikestem bâd-ı hevâ önince
Derdâ ki garka vardı bu eşk-bâr içinde
Güm-geşte gönlüm âhir deşt ü belâda buldum
Hâke berâber olmış yatur gubâr içinde
Îmân ile giderdüm cennet olurdı kabrüm
Ger yâr-ı gâr olaydı mihrün mezâr içinde
Şâhî cihâna senden n’ola yanup yakılsa
Mihr-i ruhundan anun odlar yanar içinde

In English

1. Whoever sees this feeble body of mine amid the sparks thinks that I am the salamander that lives in fire.

2. Alas, the broken ship of my body, driven before the wind of desire, has gone down in this rain of tears.

3. At last I found my lost heart in the desert of affliction; it lies level with the earth, amid the dust.

4. If your love had been my companion of the cave inside the grave, I would have gone with faith, and my tomb would have become paradise.

5. Is it any wonder if Şâhî burns and blazes before the world because of you? From the sun of your cheek, fires burn within him.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The five-couplet ghazal is written in the "mef'ûlü fâ'ilâtün mef'ûlü fâ'ilâtün" pattern. According to Kılıç's list of metres, this is the only Turkish ghazal in the divan written in this pattern. Because the refrain names a place in every couplet, it sets the lover in turn within the sparks, the tears, the dust and the grave. The pattern divides into two equal halves; the lines are read with a pause in the middle, which gives the ghazal a heavy, repetitive cadence. The redif (refrain) is "içinde" (within), and the rhyme is the "-âr" sound in the words "şerâr, nâr, eşk-bâr, gubâr, mezâr". With its short vowel, the verb "yanar" (burns) in the closing couplet does not fully fit this rhyme. Kılıç counts "içinde" among the refrains of the divan. In the edition there is no folio mark within the text of this ghazal.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal moves back and forth between fire and water. In the opening couplet the lover is amid sparks; whoever sees him takes him for the salamander, which was believed to live in fire. The salamander is a familiar comparison in divan poetry for the lover grown used to the fire of love. In the second couplet the image turns to water: the body is a broken ship, the wind of desire drives it and sinks it in the rain of tears. In the third couplet the lover finds his lost heart in the desert of affliction, mingled with dust and earth. That the wind is mentioned together with fire, water and earth suggests that the four elements appear in turn through the couplets; this observation is our own reading.

The phrase "yâr-ı gâr" (companion of the cave) in the fourth couplet alludes to Abu Bakr, who stayed with the Prophet in the cave of Thawr during the Hijra. This epithet is given to him as the highest example of loyalty and closeness. The poet wishes that the beloved's love might be such a companion to him in the grave; then he will die with faith, and his tomb will turn into a garden of paradise. The likeness drawn between a narrow cave and the grave makes the couplet the most solid conceit of the ghazal.

In the closing couplet the word "mihr" is used in the sense of sun, but it also recalls the sense of love; the sun of the cheek kindles fires within the lover. Thus the ghazal returns to the image of fire with which it began. To whom and when it was written is unknown.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 117-118, ghazal no. 148 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225); also p. 29 (refrains and list of metres), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources