Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün
Levh-i kâfûr üzre hâlün ‘anber-i sârâ gibi
‘Ârızunda gonce agzun bâde-i sahbâ gibi
Nutka geldükçe dehânun mürdeler ihyâ ider
Sordugum ‘ayb olmasun cânâ lebün ‘Îsâ gibi
Ol şehenşâh-ı cihânsın sen ki mislün gelmedi
Kullarunun kulı var İskender ü Dârâ gibi
Her seher cânâ melâhat matla’ından ‘ârızun
‘Âleme pertev salar mihr-i cihân-ârâ gibi
Ey melek-manzar girenler gülsitân-ı kûyuna
İstemez çıkmaga ayruk Cennetü’l-me’vâ gibi
Bâd-ı fürkat fülk-i vaslı karaya urmak diler
Vaktidür ey seyl-i eşküm cûşa gel deryâ gibi
Ol gözi âhûdan ayru düşdügümde âh kim
Bulmazam ârâm-gâhum dâmen-i sahrâ gibi
Hâlünün âşüftesi olmakdan ey âfet kaçup
Kâkülün ardınca yelmek bir uzun sevdâ gibi
Kûşe-i vahdetde Şâhî vasl-ı cânân var iken
Tumturak-ı pâdişâhî bir kurı gavgâ gibi
In English
1. On the tablet of camphor (your white cheek) your beauty spot is like pure ambergris; on your cheek your bud of a mouth is like pure red wine.
2. Whenever your mouth comes to speech it raises the dead; O soul, let it not be a fault for me to say it, your lip is like Jesus.
3. You are such a shahanshah of the world that your like has not come; you have slaves of your slaves like Alexander and Darius.
4. O soul, every dawn your cheek, from the rising-place of beauty, casts its light upon the world like the world-adorning sun.
5. O angel-faced one, those who enter the rose garden of your quarter no longer wish to leave it, as with the Garden of Refuge (Cennetü'l-Me'vâ).
6. The wind of separation wishes to run the ship of union aground; O flood of my tears, it is time to surge like the sea.
7. Ah, when I am parted from that gazelle-eyed one, I find no place of rest, like (a gazelle on) the skirt of the desert.
8. O calamity, fleeing from being distraught by your beauty spot and running after your forelock is like a long passion (sevda).
9. Şâhî, when there is union with the beloved in the corner of unity, the pomp of kingship is like an empty quarrel.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The nine-couplet ghazal is written in the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern. The redif (refrain) is "gibi" (like), and the rhyme is the "-â" sound in the words "sârâ, sahbâ, 'Îsâ, Dârâ, cihân-ârâ, me'vâ, deryâ, sahrâ, sevdâ, gavgâ". Kılıç counts "gibi" among the refrains of the divan. Because the refrain is a particle of comparison, every couplet closes with a simile. In the edition the folio mark [62b] stands after the sixth couplet. In the edition the mark [88b] stands at the head of the following ghazal; that is, in Kılıç's alphabetical arrangement this ghazal is the last Turkish ghazal taken from this part of the manuscript.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The opening couplet is built on contrasts of colour. The white cheek is likened to a tablet of camphor, the black beauty spot on it to ambergris; the red bud of a mouth is pure wine. In the second couplet the mouth's coming to speech raises the dead, and the lip is likened to Jesus. The word "matla'" in the fourth couplet means the place where the sun rises, but it also means the opening couplet of a ghazal; the cheek casts light like the sun from the rising-place of beauty. In the sixth couplet separation is a wind and union a ship; the idiom "karaya vurmak" describes a ship running aground. The word "sevdâ" in the eighth couplet means both love and black bile; the blackness and length of the forelock are joined in this word.
Historical Context
The third couplet praises the beloved as a shahanshah: even Alexander and Darius are so far beneath her that they are slaves of her slaves. The closing couplet stands directly opposite this praise. When there is union in the corner of unity, the "tumturak-ı pâdişâhî", that is, the pomp of kingship, is an empty quarrel. Kılıç says that the divan contains couplets of counsel on the transience of the world and on not trusting crown, throne and sovereignty, and he gives as an example the line "Tâc u taht u saltanat aldanma fânîdür gönül" (crown, throne and sovereignty, do not be deceived, are transient, O heart). The last couplet of this ghazal carries the same thought. This couplet, from the pen of a prince who died in the midst of a struggle for the throne, lies on the same line as the counsels Kılıç mentions; to tie the couplet to a particular event in his life, however, is not possible. Kılıç does not mention this ghazal, and the edition does not state when 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 pp. 126-127, ghazal no. 168 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 62b); also p. 29 (refrains) and p. 41 (couplets on the transience of sovereignty), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.
Online sources
