Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ol kaşı yâ gözleri mestân elinden el-gıyâs
Bendesine zulm iden sultân elinden el-gıyâs
Eşk-i çeşmüm cûşı ile seyle virdüm ‘âlemi
Dostlar bu dîde-i giryân elinden el-gıyâs
Zulm ile zencîr-i zülfün ben garîbi kıldı bend
Cevri bî-had zulmi bî-pâyân elinden el-gıyâs
Bir nazarla gönlüm aldı rahm idüp kılmaz vefâ
N’ideyin ol gözleri fettân elinden el-gıyâs
Şâhî inler derd elinden derdine bulmaz devâ
Ger olursa derd-i bî-dermân elinden el-gıyâs

In English

1. Help against that beauty whose brow is a bow and whose eyes are drunk; help against the sultan who oppresses his servant.

2. With the surging of my tears I have flooded the world; friends, help against this weeping eye.

3. The chain of her locks has bound this poor stranger with cruelty; help against her whose cruelty is boundless and whose oppression is endless.

4. With one glance she took my heart, yet shows no pity or faithfulness; what am I to do, help against that beauty with mischief-making eyes.

5. Şâhî moans from the hand of pain and finds no cure for it; if there is a cry for help, it is against the pain that has no remedy.

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. The redif, as in the preceding ghazal (G.14), is "elinden el-gıyâs" (help against); the rhyme this time is formed by the "-ân" sound in the words "mestân, sultân, giryân, bî-pâyân, fettân, bî-dermân". The pen name appears in the last couplet. The edition has no separate folio mark for this ghazal.

The appearance of two ghazals in succession with the same redif and metre is notable, together with the recurrence of the same expressions. The "dîde-i hûn-bâr" (blood-raining eye) of the fourth couplet of G.14 becomes "dîde-i giryân" (weeping eye) here in the second couplet; in both ghazals the lover calls himself "ben garîb" (poor stranger that I am) and complains of the beloved's enchanting or mischief-making eye. These similarities are our own observation, and they suggest that the two ghazals may have been written on the same ground and close in time to each other.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In the opening couplet the beloved is depicted from two sides: in the first line she is a beauty whose brow is a bow and whose eyes are drunk, in the second a sultan who oppresses his servant. The relation between the beloved, sovereign of the land of beauty, and the lover who is her servant is a familiar construction of divan poetry. In the second couplet the tears surging up and flooding the world are a hyperbole; this time the poet asks for help from his "friends".

In the third couplet the locks are likened to a chain. In divan poetry the chain is the bond that binds the mad lover; the likeness between the curls of the locks and the links of a chain is the basis of this simile. The word "zulm" (cruelty) occurs twice in the line, and the phrases "cevr-i bî-had" (boundless cruelty) and "zulm-i bî-pâyân" (endless oppression) are built in parallel. In the fourth couplet the eyes of the beloved, who takes the heart with a single glance and shows no faithfulness, are called "fettân" (mischief-making).

In the last couplet the word "derd" (pain) is repeated three times, and the ghazal closes with a complaint against a pain that has no remedy. A congruence of images (tenasüp) around illness and cure is formed between the words "derd", "devâ" (cure) and "bî-dermân" (without remedy). The ghazal contains nothing that points directly to Bayezid's life; calling the beloved "sultân" fits the general language of divan poetry, and it is not known to whom 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 p. 54, ghazal no. 15 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225); also p. 29 (redifs), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources