Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Sâkiyâ sun sâgarı ol gül-’izârun ‘ışkına
İçerüz biz anı ger zehr ise yârun ‘ışkına
Bezm-i hasretde ciger kanıyla câmı pür idüp
Hûn-ı dildür içdügüm her dem nigârun ‘ışkına
Kon beni kurbân olayın kaşlarınun yâyına
Cânumı kıldum fedâ ol gamze-kârun ‘ışkına
Terk idüp kârı levendâne el urup bâdeye
Düşmişem meyhâneye ol nâ-bekârun ‘ışkına
Hasret-ı la’lünle Şâhî ölmesin bir bûse vir
Sini yokdan var iden perverdigârun ‘ışkına

In English

1. Cupbearer, offer the cup for the love of that rose-cheeked one; even if it is poison, we shall drink it for the love of the beloved.

2. In the gathering of longing, filling the cup with the blood of the liver, what I drink at every moment for the love of that beauty is the blood of the heart.

3. Leave me, let me be sacrificed to the bow of her brows; I have offered up my soul for the love of that one who kills with sidelong glances.

4. Abandoning my work and reaching for the wine like a carefree youth, I have fallen into the tavern for the love of that good-for-nothing.

5. Do not let Şâhî die of longing for your lip; give him a kiss for the love of the Creator who brought you from nothing into being.

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. The redif (refrain) is "'ışkına" (for the love of), and the rhyme is the "-âr" sound in the words "gül-'izâr, yâr, nigâr, gamze-kâr, nâ-bekâr, perverdigâr" together with the suffix "-un" attached to it. Kılıç counts "'ışkına" 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 opens with an address to a cupbearer and moves within the language of the drinking gathering. In the first four couplets the refrain "'ışkına" means "for the sake of her love": the lover drinks the cup for the beloved's love, offers up his soul for her love, falls into the tavern for her love. In the opening couplet poison and wine stand side by side; the cup offered for the beloved's sake will be drunk even if it is poison. In the second couplet what fills the cup is the blood of the liver, and not wine. The likeness of colour between red wine and blood is a familiar image in divan poetry that ties pain to the drinking gathering. The gathering of longing is a gathering without the beloved; there the lover finds wine only in his own blood.

In the third couplet the brow resembles a bow and the glance an arrow; the lover places himself before this bow as a sacrifice. The phrase "kon beni" means "leave me, let me be". In the fourth couplet there is a relation of sound and sense between the words "kâr" (work) and "nâ-bekâr" (useless, good-for-nothing): the lover has abandoned his work, and he has done so for the sake of a beloved who is called good-for-nothing. The attribute "levendâne" (like a carefree youth, nonchalantly) adds a young man's ease to the fall into the tavern.

In the closing couplet the meaning of the refrain changes. "Perverdigârun 'ışkına" (for the love of the Creator) is a formula of oath and entreaty, like "for God's sake". Thus the refrain, which describes a passion throughout the ghazal, turns in the last couplet into the formula of a supplication: the poet calls on the beloved to give a kiss in the name of the God who created her. This turn is the most striking feature of the ghazal. To whom and when the ghazal 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 p. 118, ghazal no. 150 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225); also p. 29 (refrains), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources