Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün
Rûz u şeb zülf ü ruhundur gönlümün endîşesi
‘Âşıkun ‘âlemde olmaz bundan özge pîşesi
Hûb tîr-endâz imişsin ey kaşı yâ âferîn
Urdı geçdi tîr-i gamzen sınmadı dil şîsesi
Bâd-ı âh-ı sarsarumdan sûretin zerd eyleyüp
Berg ü bârın yire dökdi kûhsârun mîşesi
Bir yanadan sen de ey gam yakma odlara beni
Nâr-ı fürkatden kara bagrum hod oldı bîşesi
Sırr-ı ‘ışkı kûhken faş itdügiçün ‘âleme
Ko urulsun başına Şâhî sezâdur tîşesi
In English
1. Day and night the thought of my heart is your locks and your cheek; the lover has no other occupation in the world than this.
2. O you whose brow is a bow, what a fine archer you have proved to be, bravo; the arrow of your glance struck and passed through, and the glass of the heart did not break.
3. The wind of my sigh, like a tempest, has turned yellow the face of the mountain's forest and scattered its leaves and fruit on the ground.
4. O grief, do not you too burn me in the fires from one side; my black breast has already become the thicket (burned) by the fire of separation.
5. Because Kûhken (Ferhad) revealed the secret of love to the world, says Şâhî, let his pickaxe strike his head; he deserves it.
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 "-îşe" sound in the words "endîşe, pîşe, şîşe, mîşe, bîşe, tîşe"; the possessive suffix "-si" stands in the place of the redif (refrain). In the second couplet the rhyme word has been printed as "şîsesi". Rhyme and sense require the reading "şîşesi" (its glass); this may be a typesetting error, and the text has not been altered. Of the rhyme words, "mîşe" and "bîşe" mean forest and thicket in Persian; the ghazal has chosen a difficult rhyme with these rarely used words. In the edition there is no folio mark within the text of this ghazal.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The opening couplet ties all the lover's work to a single thought: day and night the beloved's locks and cheek are on his mind. There is a hidden pairing between the blackness of the locks and the night, and between the brightness of the cheek and the day; the phrase "rûz u şeb" (day and night) therefore also calls up cheek and locks. The second couplet is a scene of archery. The brow is a bow, the glance an arrow; the arrow passes through the heart, yet the glass of the heart does not break. In divan poetry the heart is thought of as fragile as glass. That the arrow passes without breaking the glass is a hyperbole praising the beloved's skill.
In the third and fourth couplets images of nature gain weight. The lover's sigh is a "sarsar", that is, a destructive tempest; it turns yellow the leaves of the forest on the mountain and scatters its fruit. The yellowing leaf is, in divan poetry, also the counterpart of the lover's yellowed face. The fourth couplet is obscure. The lover tells grief not to burn him from one side as well, for his black breast has already turned into a thicket burned in the fire of separation. Reading the word "bîşe" in this sense is our own reading.
The closing couplet alludes to the story of Ferhad. Ferhad pierced the mountain of Bisutun to win Şirin, and when he received the news that Şirin had died he died by striking his head with his pickaxe. The poet turns this death into a punishment: because Ferhad revealed the secret of love to everyone, he deserves to have his pickaxe strike his head. Keeping the secret of love is counted in divan poetry among the virtues of the true lover. Thus the rhyme word "tîşe" (pickaxe) ties the end of the ghazal to the best-known moment of the story. 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. 123, ghazal no. 160 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225); also p. 29 (metres), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.
Online sources
