Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Dil lebünden bûse eylerse temennâ itme kec
Vir murâdın derdmendün nâz itme vaz gec
Tutılur gün gûyiyâ zulmet basar ‘âlem yüzin
Ol güneş yüzlüm külâhın başına giydükçe kec
Çünki ey hâcı gönül yıkmak durur pîşen senün
N’oldı andan tutalum kim idesin bin kerre hac
Hamdü-li’llâh irmişem niçe murâda sabr ile
Hak buyurmışdur resûlü’s-sabr miftâhü’l-ferec
İtdügün sa’yi n’ola bilmezse il Mevlâ bilür
Eylügi sen eyle Şâhî zâyi’ olmaz suya sac

In English

1. If the heart asks a kiss of your lips, do not turn away; grant the wish of the sufferer, give up your coquetry.

2. Whenever my sun-faced one wears his cap aslant on his head, it is as if the sun were eclipsed and darkness covered the face of the world.

3. O pilgrim, since breaking hearts is your habit, suppose you have made the pilgrimage a thousand times, what comes of it?

4. Praise be to God, through patience I have attained many a wish; the Prophet spoke truly: "Patience is the key to relief."

5. O Şâhî, what if people do not know of your efforts, God knows them; do good and scatter it on the water, it will not be lost.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal of five couplets is written in the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern and stands on folio 6b of the manuscript. There is no redif; the rhyme is formed by the "-ec / -ac" sound in the words "kec, gec, hac, ferec, sac". The word "kec" (crooked) serves as rhyme in the first and second couplets with two different senses: in the opening couplet "itme kec" (do not be crooked, do not turn away), in the second "giydükçe kec" (whenever he wears it aslant). The pen name appears in the last couplet.

The second line of the fourth couplet reads in the edition "Hak buyurmışdur resûlü's-sabr miftâhü'l-ferec"; in a footnote Kılıç renders the phrase as "the messenger of patience, the key to light". The Arabic saying "es-sabru miftâhu'l-ferec" means "patience is the key to relief (deliverance)". We think that reading the line as "Hak buyurmışdur Resûl: es-sabru miftâhü'l-ferec" (the Prophet spoke truly: patience is the key to relief) better suits the sense; this reading is our own, and the text has not been altered.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In the ghazal couplets of love and couplets of counsel stand side by side. In the opening couplet the lover asks the beloved to give up coquetry and answer his request for a kiss. In the second couplet the sun-faced beloved's wearing his cap aslant is likened to an eclipse of the sun: the shadow of the cap covers part of the face and darkness falls upon the world. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between the words sun, eclipse and darkness.

The third couplet addresses a pilgrim who breaks hearts: one who has made breaking hearts his habit gains nothing even if he makes the pilgrimage a thousand times. A relation of common derivation (iştikak) is set up between the words "hâcı" (pilgrim) and "hac" (pilgrimage). In the fourth couplet the poet says that through patience he has attained many a wish and supports his words with an Arabic maxim; this is a use close to the figure of irsal-i mesel (use of a proverb). The last couplet recalls the proverb known as "do good and throw it into the sea": even if people do not know of the good that is done, God knows it, and good scattered on the water is not lost. This resemblance is our own observation.

Kılıç says that in Bayezid's poems one feels the sorrows of a prince who cannot attain his desire. In the fourth couplet of this ghazal, by contrast, thanks are expressed for attaining one's wishes through patience. Which wish is meant is not clear, and there is no record of when the ghazal 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. 56, ghazal no. 19 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 6b); footnote 100; also p. 30 (features of content), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources