Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ben garîb üftâdenün gûş itmedi feryâdını
Yine zulme başladı terk itdi şâhum dâdını
Hecr ü fürkat tîşesiyle yüregüm sad-pâredür
Bilmedi şîrîn-dehânum ne çeker Ferhâdını
Kana koymış gör şehâ ol gamze-i gammâzunı
Çeşm-i cellâdun niçün inkâr ider ifsâdını
Ben garîb-i râh-ı ‘ışkun derd ü gamdur tûşesi
‘Azm-i râh iden kişi eyler müheyyâ zâdını
Vasf-ı la’l-i dil-beri gûş itdi zâhid Şâhiyâ
Cân u dilden terk kıldı cümle-i evrâdını

In English

1. He did not hear the lament of me, the poor fallen stranger; my shah has again begun to oppress, he has abandoned his justice.

2. My heart is in a hundred pieces from the pickaxe of separation; my sweet-mouthed one (my Şirin) did not know what her Ferhad suffers.

3. O shah, see, she has steeped that tale-bearing glance in blood; why does the executioner eye deny the ruin it has wrought?

4. I am a stranger on the road of love, my provision is pain and grief; whoever sets out on a journey makes ready his provisions.

5. O Şâhî, the ascetic heard the praise of the beloved's ruby lip; with heart and soul he gave up all his litanies.

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 rhyme is the "-âd" sound in the words "feryâd, dâd, Ferhâd, ifsâd, zâd, evrâd"; the accusative suffix "-ını" attached to them stands in the place of the redif (refrain). The phrase "Ben garîb" (I, the stranger) in the first line of the opening couplet reappears in the fourth couplet in the form "Ben garîb-i râh-ı 'ışkun" (I am a stranger on the road of love). In the edition the folio mark [58a] stands at the end of the last couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal opens with a complaint. The lament of the poor and fallen lover has not been heard, the "shah" has begun to oppress again and has abandoned justice. The word "dâd" means justice and right; lament and dâd together recall the appeal of the wronged to the ruler. The second couplet alludes to the story of Ferhad and Şirin. Ferhad pierces the mountain with his pickaxe in order to win Şirin; here the pickaxe is the tool of separation, and it breaks the lover's heart into a hundred pieces. The attribute "şîrîn-dehân" (sweet-mouthed) carries both the sweetness of the beloved's speech and the name of Şirin; this is a tevriye (double entendre).

In the third couplet the eye is an executioner, and the glance is its blood-steeped weapon. The eye denies the harm it has done, but the bloody glance betrays it. In the fourth couplet love resembles a journey. Whoever sets out makes ready his provisions; the provision of the stranger on the road of love is pain and grief. In the closing couplet the ascetic hears the praise of the beloved's lip and gives up all his litanies. In divan poetry the ascetic (zahid) is the representative of a dry piety that has withdrawn from the world; that even he should forget his worship at the praise of a lip is a hyperbole showing the power of beauty.

Historical Context

Kılıç does not mention this ghazal among the poems addressed to the father. Yet the phrase "şâhum zulme başladı" (my shah has begun to oppress) and the address "şehâ" (O shah) recall an undated letter quoted by Kılıç. In this letter, evidently written from Ankara in the last months of 1558 while he was being sent from Kütahya to Amasya, Bayezid tells his father: "bana zulm ve hayf eylediniz. Hiç ben pâdişâhımdan böyle ummaz idim" (you have done me wrong and injustice; I never expected this of my padishah). That the ghazal can be read, in the same mood, as a reproach directed at a ruler is our own reading. The edition does not state when the ghazal was written, and there is no record showing its connection with this letter.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 120-121, ghazal no. 156 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 58a); also pp. 10-11 (the transfer to Amasya and the undated letter), p. 29 (metres), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources