Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün

Halk şâd olsa n’ola çün irdi ‘îd
Gam bana pâ-bûsına irmek ba’îd
Vâ’izâ yanar diyüp ağrıtma baş
Seyl-i ‘ışka çünki bend olmaz müfîd
Görmedüm ey şâh-ı zâlim dünyede
Zülf ü gamzen gibi cebbâr u ‘anîd
Rahm kıl hûn-âb-ı çeşmümden yazık
Kana gark olmış yatur rûy-ı sefîd
Zahm-ı gamzenle ölürsem dostum
Yaz mezârum taşına “kabr-i şehîd”
Şâhî çeşmüm mest yaturken görüp
Hâba varmış didi cebbâr u ‘anîd

In English

1. What if people rejoice now that the festival has come; for me there is grief, since kissing your feet is far from reach.

2. O preacher, do not give us a headache saying "he will burn"; for a dam is of no use against the flood of love.

3. O tyrant king, never in this world have I seen anything as overbearing and obstinate as your locks and your glance.

4. Have pity, alas, on my bloody tears; the white face lies drowned in blood.

5. My friend, if I die of the wound of your glance, write on my tombstone "the grave of a martyr".

6. Şâhî, seeing my eye lying drunk, said, "That overbearing, obstinate one has fallen asleep."

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal of six couplets is written in "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün", the short pattern of the remel family. There is no redif; the rhyme is formed by the "-îd" sound in the words "'îd, ba'îd, müfîd, 'anîd, sefîd, şehîd". The phrase "cebbâr u 'anîd" (overbearing and obstinate) is repeated word for word in the third and sixth couplets, and the word "'anîd" serves twice as rhyme. The pen name appears in the last couplet. According to Kılıç's footnote, the opening couplet of the ghazal stands on folio 6b of the manuscript and the other couplets on folio 8a; they have been joined in the edition.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet recalls the morning of a religious festival: people rejoice because the festival has come, while the poet grieves because he cannot attain to kissing the beloved's feet (pâ-bûs). This contrast between festival and union is also seen in another ghazal of the divan. In G.140, quoted by Kılıç in the introduction, the poet says that he had hoped to celebrate two festivals in the same month but could not attain the "festival of union", and Kılıç thinks that in that ghazal mercy is sought from the padishah. Kılıç makes no such interpretation of this ghazal; since the one called "şâh-ı zâlim" (tyrant king) in the third couplet is a beauty with locks and glances, the poem should be read as a ghazal written to a beloved. The resemblance between the two ghazals is our own observation.

The second couplet addresses a preacher. The preacher's word "yanar" (he will burn) expresses the threat that the lover will burn in hell; the poet answers that love is a flood and that a dam against the flood is useless. The opposition between fire and flood forms a hidden contrast in this couplet; this observation is our own. In the third couplet the beloved's locks and glance take on the character of a tyrant through the adjectives "cebbâr" (overbearing) and "'anîd" (obstinate).

In the fourth couplet the "rûy-ı sefîd" (white face) lies amid bloody tears; there is a contrast of colour between white and blood red. The fifth couplet rests on the theme of the martyr of love: the lover killed by the arrow of the glance asks that "the grave of a martyr" be written on his tombstone. The meaning of the last couplet is not clear. The edition reads "çeşmüm" (my eye); whether the "overbearing and obstinate" one who speaks and sleeps is the beloved or the beloved's eye cannot be determined with certainty from the line. If "çeşmün" (your eye) is read, the couplet describes the poet who, seeing the beloved's drunken eye asleep, says "the tyrant has fallen asleep"; this reading is our own proposal, and the text has not been altered.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 57, ghazal no. 21 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 6b and 8a); footnote 101; also pp. 32-33 (G.140, "two festivals"), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources