Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef’ûlü Mefâ’îlü Mefâ’îlü Fe’ûlün

Hûbân-ı dil-âşûb cihân içre şu sen mi
Yâ gönlümi virmek şu senün gibiye ben mi
Şol hokka-i la’lünde yatan silk-i cevâhir
Aç la’l-i lebün seyr idelüm dürc-i ‘Aden mi
Var yok haber alınmadı agzındân o yârün
Gülşende ‘aceb gonce dahı teng-dehen mi
Ayva gibi zerd itdi yüzüm derd ile eyvâh
Ayruk adını anmaya ben sîb-i zekan mı
Ey bâd-ı sabâ Şâhîye lutf eyle haber vir
Yârün nicedür hâli ‘aceb sag u esen mi

In English

1. Is it you, there, (foremost) among the heart-disturbing beauties of the world? Or is it I, here, who am to give my heart to one like you?

2. Is that string of jewels lying in that ruby casket the jewel box of Aden? Open your ruby lip and let us behold it.

3. No news, whether it exists or not, has been had from that beloved's mouth; is the bud in the rose garden, too, so narrow-mouthed?

4. Alas, pain has turned my face yellow like a quince; shall I no longer speak the name of the apple (of the chin)? The couplet is obscure; the second line can also be understood as "am I the apple of the chin, that I should speak its name?"

5. O morning breeze, be gracious to Şâhî and bring him news: how is the beloved, is she safe and well?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The five-couplet ghazal is written in the "mef'ûlü mefâ'îlü mefâ'îlü fe'ûlün" pattern. The redif (refrain) is the question particle "mi / mı", and the rhyme is the "-en" sound in the words "sen, ben, 'Aden, dehen, zekan, esen". With its back vowel, the word "zekan" (chin) in the fourth couplet does not fully fit this rhyme. Kılıç counts "mi" among the refrains of the divan. Every couplet of the ghazal ends with a question; this arrangement gives the poem the air of an interrogation. In the edition the folio mark [57a] stands at the end of the last couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet begins with two questions: is it the beloved who is the beauty unsettling the world, or the lover who loses his heart to such a one? The questions remain unanswered; it is suggested that both are equally astonishing. In the second couplet the mouth is a jewel box. "Hokka-i la'l" (ruby casket) describes the red lips, and the "silk-i cevâhir" (string of jewels) inside describes the teeth. Aden is a port remembered in divan poetry for its pearls and jewels; the poet likens the teeth that will be seen when the lips open to the jewel chest of Aden.

The third couplet rests on the image of the smallness of the mouth. In divan poetry the beloved's mouth is so small that one cannot tell whether it exists or not; the phrase "var yok haber alınmadı" (no news, whether it exists or not, has been had) therefore recalls both the absence of news and the non-existence of the mouth. The bud, too, is a narrow-mouthed flower; the poet asks whether it resembles the beloved. In the fourth couplet there is congruence of images (tenasüp) between quince and apple. Pain has turned the lover's face yellow like a quince; the beloved's chin, in divan poetry, is likened to an apple. The couplet is obscure and open to two readings.

Historical Context

The closing couplet addresses the morning breeze and asks after the beloved's health. Kılıç says that in the ghazal of the divan opening with "Ey sabâ lutf it haber vir ol nigârum hoş mıdur" (O morning breeze, be kind and bring news, is my beloved well?) Bayezid asks after his father by way of the breeze; that ghazal is cited in the introduction as "G28", and its number in the text is 27. The line "Ey bâd-ı sabâ Şâhîye lutf eyle haber vir" here is built with the same words. Kılıç does not mention this ghazal with those poems; the resemblance is only our own observation, and nothing certain can be said about the ghazal's addressee.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 119-120, ghazal no. 153 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 57a); also p. 29 (refrains) and p. 33 (the ghazal "G28", asking after his father by way of the morning breeze), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources