Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

‘Işka düşdüm bir vefâsuz yâre virdüm gönlümi
Gamzesi câdû gözi sehhâre virdüm gönlümi
Çekdi def’î cânumı zülf-i kemend-endâzına
Bir emânsuz bî-rahm mekkâre virdüm gönlümi
Giceler tâ subha dek pervâne-veş yansam n’ola
Şem’-i ‘âlem-tâb olan ruhsâra virdüm gönlümi
Tan degül bülbül gibi feryâd idersem rûz u şeb
Bir saçı sünbül yüzi gülzâra virdüm gönlümi
Öldürürse gamzesiyle çâresi teslîmdür
Şâhî çün kim ol gözi hûn-hâra virdüm gönlümi

In English

1. I fell into love, I gave my heart to a faithless beloved; to one whose glance is a sorcerer and whose eye a magician I gave my heart.

2. She drew my soul all at once into her lasso-throwing locks; to a merciless, pitiless deceiver I gave my heart.

3. Is it any wonder if I burn like a moth through the nights until morning? To a cheek that is a candle lighting the world I gave my heart.

4. It is no wonder if I lament like a nightingale day and night; to one whose hair is hyacinth and whose face a rose garden I gave my heart.

5. If she kills with her glance, the only remedy is surrender; for, Şâhî, I gave my heart to that one with the blood-shedding eye.

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 "virdüm gönlümi" (I gave my heart), and the rhyme is the "-âr" sound in the words "yâr, sehhâr, mekkâr, ruhsâr, gülzâr, hûn-hâr". In Kılıç's list of refrains the refrain of this ghazal appears as "gönlümi". The refrain is long and worth a sentence; each couplet lists a quality of the beloved and closes with the same confession. In the edition there is no folio mark within the text of this ghazal.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is built like a series of confessions. In each couplet the lover describes the one to whom he has given his heart with a different attribute: faithless, sorcerer-glanced, magician-eyed, merciless, pitiless, deceitful, candle-cheeked, hyacinth-haired, rose-faced, blood-shedding-eyed. Most of the attributes describe the beloved's wickedness; only in the third and fourth couplets do the brightness and freshness of beauty come to the fore.

In the opening couplet eye and glance are associated with sorcery. In divan poetry the beloved's eye has a magical power that carries the lover out of himself. In the second couplet the locks are a lasso; the lover's soul has been drawn into this lasso "def'î", that is, all at once, in a single stroke. The attribute "emânsuz" (giving no quarter) also comes from the language of war. In the third couplet the image of candle and moth is worked out, in the fourth the image of rose and nightingale. The two couplets are built in the same order: first comes the lover's burning or lament, then the beauty that causes it. The phrase "şem'-i 'âlem-tâb" (candle lighting the world) is a hyperbole that brings the candle close to the sun.

In the closing couplet the lover accepts being killed by the beloved's glance: the only remedy is surrender. This surrender is the natural end of the story that began with "I fell into love" in the opening couplet. At the end of the ghazal the beloved's eye is called "hûn-hâr" (blood-drinking) and joins the sorcerer eye of the opening couplet; the poem begins and ends with the eye. The pen name is used here as an address, but the verb remains in the first person; the poet speaks in his own voice while addressing himself. 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. 121, ghazal no. 157 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225); also p. 29 (refrains), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources