Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün

Gerekmez mâl u mülkini cihânun yârdan gayrı
Benüm nem var cihân içinde mihr-i yârdan gayrı
Zebûnum pister-i hasretde derd-i hecr-i yâr ile
Yüzüme su seper yok dîde-i hûn-bârdan gayrı
Makâm-ı vasla ‘azm idüp reh-i hecre revân oldum
Benüm zâd u zevâdum yok gam-ı dil-dârdan gayrı
Benüm çok sevdügüm ayruk elümde dahı nem vardur
Yoluna gevher-i eşküm benüm îsârdan gayrı
Temâşâ-yı cemâlünden beni lutf eyle men’ itme
Ki yokdur hiç murâdum dünyede dîdârdan gayrı
Ser-i kûyun koyup Şâhî varup kanda karâr itsün
Ki hergiz bülbülün olmaz yiri gülzârdan gayrı

In English

1. I need none of the wealth and possessions of the world but the beloved; what do I have in the world but the love of the beloved?

2. I am prostrate on the bed of longing with the pain of the beloved's separation; there is none to sprinkle water on my face but my eye that rains blood.

3. Setting out for the station of union I have taken the road of separation; I have no provision, no supplies for the journey, but grief for the beloved.

4. My much-beloved, what else do I have in my hand now, but to scatter the pearls of my tears on your path?

5. Be gracious, do not keep me from beholding your beauty; for in this world I have no wish at all but to see your face.

6. Leaving the head of your street, where should Şâhî go and settle? For the nightingale's place is never anywhere but the rose garden.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The six-couplet ghazal is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün" pattern. The redif (refrain) is "-dan gayrı" (but, other than), and the rhyme is the "-âr" sound in the words "yâr, hûn-bâr, dil-dâr, îsâr, dîdâr, gülzâr". Kılıç counts "gayrı" among the refrains of the divan. Both lines of the opening couplet end with "yârdan gayrı" (but the beloved); the repetition of the same word as rhyme may be counted a flaw, but the phrase "mihr-i yâr" (the love of the beloved) in the second line softens the repetition a little. In the edition the folio mark [62a] stands after the fourth couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Every couplet of the ghazal is built on an exclusion: the lover has nothing but the beloved, and he needs nothing else. In the opening couplet the wealth and possessions of the world are refused. In the second couplet there is no one to sprinkle water on the sick lover's face, only the bloody tears flowing from his own eye. Water is sprinkled on a sick man's face to revive him; here tears perform this service.

The third couplet carries a contrast: the lover set out for the station of union, but has taken the road of separation. A traveller prepares provisions; his provision, however, is only grief. In the fourth couplet "îsâr" is the gift scattered on someone's path. In old ceremonies gold and pearls were scattered on the path of the great; the only thing the lover can scatter is the pearls of his tears.

The closing couplet ends with the image of rose and nightingale. The nightingale's place is the rose garden; the lover's place is before the beloved's door. This last comparison gathers into a single picture all the exclusions listed through the ghazal. The phrase "ser-i kûy" (the head of the street, before the door) describes the lover's inability to leave the beloved's quarter.

Historical Context

Kılıç does not mention this ghazal. Yet the word "gayrı" in the refrain recalls a phrase in a letter quoted by Kılıç. In one of the letters he wrote to his father some years after the affair of the false Mustafa (Düzme Mustafa), Bayezid says: "Kulunuzam, kurbânınızam, ayağınız turabıyam; sultânımdan gayrı kimim var?" (I am your servant, your sacrifice, the dust of your feet; whom do I have but my sultan?). The line of the ghazal "Benüm nem var cihân içinde mihr-i yârdan gayrı" (what do I have in the world but the love of the beloved?) carries the same feeling. This resemblance is our own observation; the edition does not state the addressee of the ghazal or the time it was written.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 126, ghazal no. 167 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 62a); also p. 8 (the letter "whom do I have but my sultan") and p. 29 (refrains), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources