Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Cân u dilden ey nigârum göresim geldi seni
Gitdi sabr u ihtiyârum göresim geldi seni
Gül yüzün hecriyle yandı lâle-veş bagrum benüm
Lâle-zârum gül-‘izârum göresim geldi seni
Kalmışam fürkat diyârında visâle çâre kıl
Pâdişâhum kâm-kârum göresim geldi seni
Hasret-i serv-kaddün ile ‘âlemi tûfân ider
İşbu çeşm-i eşk-bârum göresim geldi seni
Kalmasun gurbet diyârında bu Şâhî bendene
Lutf kıl ey şehr-yârum göresim geldi seni

In English

1. O my beauty, with heart and soul I long to see you; my patience and my will are gone, I long to see you.

2. Through separation from your rose face my breast has burned like a tulip; O my tulip garden, my rose-cheeked one, I long to see you.

3. I am left in the land of separation, find a remedy for union; O my padishah, my fortunate sovereign, I long to see you.

4. Through longing for your cypress stature this tear-shedding eye of mine drowns the world in a flood; I long to see you.

5. Let not this servant Şâhî remain in the land of exile; be gracious, O my sovereign, I long to see you.

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 "göresim geldi seni" (I long to see you), and the rhyme is the "-âr" sound in the words "nigâr, ihtiyâr, gül-'izâr, kâm-kâr, eşk-bâr, şehr-yâr" together with the possessive suffix "-um" (my) added to it. In Kılıç's list of refrains the refrain of this ghazal appears as "seni". The second line of every couplet begins with an address and ends with the refrain; the refrain is a plain phrase of longing from spoken language and carries the whole weight of the ghazal. In the edition the folio mark [58b] stands after the second couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal repeats a single feeling, the longing to see, five times. Figures of speech are few, and a plain manner of speaking comes to the fore. In the second couplet tulip and rose are used together. The black spot at the centre of the tulip is likened in divan poetry to the mark of a burned breast; the lover's breast, too, has burned like a tulip through separation. The beloved is called "lâle-zâr" (tulip garden) and "gül-'izâr" (rose-cheeked). In the fourth couplet the cypress stature and the flood of tears face each other; the stature resembles the cypress rising beside the water, and the tears a flood drowning the world. In the third and fifth couplets, however, a relation of servant and sovereign is plainly seen alongside the language of love: the addresses "pâdişâhum" (my padishah), "kâm-kâr" (fortunate, one who has attained his desires) and "şehr-yâr" (sovereign), and the phrase "bu Şâhî bendene" (to this servant Şâhî).

Historical Context

Kılıç says that one of the wishes expressed in the poems written to his father is Bayezid's desire to see him. He states that he believes this ghazal, which appears to be written to a beloved from whom the poet is separated and for whom he longs, addresses Kanuni, and he quotes the ghazal in full. In the introduction the ghazal is cited as "G157"; its number in the text is 158, and there is no difference between the two texts. According to Kılıç, the desire to see his father rises to the point of entreaty in the poems towards the end of the divan. The "gurbet diyârı" (land of exile) of the last couplet fits Bayezid's habit, noted by Kılıç elsewhere, of regarding the places he went as exile. Which exile is meant in the ghazal is not clear; the edition does not give the time of writing.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 121-122, ghazal no. 158 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 58b); also p. 29 (refrains), p. 33 (full quotation of the ghazal under the reference "G157" and the view that it addresses Kanuni), p. 34 (the desire to see his father) and p. 41 (exile), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources