Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ey firâkun âteşinden nâr-ı dûzah bir şerer
Ravza-i cennet cemâlün gülşeninden bir eser
Hâk-i râhunda makâm u dilde mihrün var iken
Hey ma’âza’llâh gerekmez taht-ı ‘âc u tâc-ı zer
İl senünle câm içüp ‘ıyş ide ben kanlar yudam
Derd olur mı dünyede cânâ bana bundan beter
Tut dehânum karşusında gül ruhun mir’âtını
Öldügüme ey Mesîhâ-dem inanmazsan eger
Ögerek arşa çıkardı Şâhî tûbâ kaddüni
Âferîn tab’-ı bülendine zihî sâhib-hüner

In English

1. O you from the fire of whose absence the fire of hell is but a spark; the garden of paradise is but a trace of the rose garden of your beauty.

2. While my station is in the dust of your path and love for you is in my heart, God forbid, there is no need for an ivory throne and a golden crown.

3. Let others drink cups and make merry with you while I swallow blood; my beloved, could there be a worse pain for me in this world?

4. O you with the breath of the Messiah, if you do not believe that I am dead, hold the mirror of your rosy cheek before my mouth.

5. Şâhî, praising your stature like the Tûbâ tree, has raised it to the highest heaven; bravo to his lofty nature, what a man of skill.

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 8b of the manuscript. There is no redif; the rhyme is formed by the "-er" sound in the words "şerer, eser, zer, beter, eger, hüner". The pen name appears in the last couplet. In the introduction, when showing the frequency of the words for estrangement and parting in Bayezid's poems, Kılıç quotes the opening couplet of this ghazal under the reference "G23/1". From a certain point onward the ghazal numbers in the introduction are one less than the numbers in the text of the edition; the quoted couplet is the opening couplet of the twenty-second ghazal in the text.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet compares the beloved's absence and beauty with hell and paradise. Beside the fire of separation the fire of hell is as small as a spark; the garden of paradise is but a trace of the rose garden of the beloved's face. Across the two lines the words hell and paradise, fire and rose garden, spark and trace are set in corresponding order, and the couplet is built on a regular contrast.

The second couplet prefers the dust of the beloved's path and the love in the heart to "taht-ı 'âc u tâc-ı zer", an ivory throne and a golden crown. The same expression also occurs in the fifth couplet of G.18 ("Hey ma'âza'llâh gerekmez taht u tâc"); the repetition is our own observation. The third couplet expresses the jealousy of the lover left outside the drinking party: while others drink cups with the beloved, what the lover drinks is his own blood. The fourth couplet is the liveliest picture of the ghazal. The situation of a man before whose mouth a mirror is held to see whether he is dead is combined with the likening of the beloved's shining cheek to a mirror. Calling the beloved "Mesîhâ-dem" (with the breath of the Messiah) alludes to Jesus raising the dead with his breath; the beloved, whose breath gives life, is the one who, on seeing that the lover is dead, could bring him back to life. This double sense is our own reading.

In the last couplet the poet likens the beloved's stature to the Tûbâ tree of paradise and says that through praise he has raised it up to the highest heaven (arş). There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) in terms of height between the Tûbâ and the highest heaven. In the second line the poet praises his own lofty nature and skill. Kılıç notes that, apart from a few couplets, no expressions are found in which Şâhî praises his own poetry, and that these are ordinary, unexaggerated praises; this couplet may be added to those few examples of self-praise (fahriye).

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. 22 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 8b); also pp. 31-32 (quoted in the introduction as "G23/1") and p. 42 (the poet's praise of his own poetry), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources