Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Gamzen öldürüp gider ‘uşşâkı kanı yok mıdur
Yoksa ‘ömrüm bunlarun yanunda cânı yok mıdur
Hâ bugün yarın diyü hasretle geçdi ‘ömrümüz
Dostum ‘âlemde bir vuslat zemânı yok mıdur
Nice nâlân olmasun fürkat diyârında gönül
Bir senün gibi vefâsuz dil-sitânı yok mıdur
‘Ömrümi fürkat diyârında geçürdüm âh ile
Yoksa andan gayrı ‘uşşâkun mekânı yok mıdur
Çünki yârun pâyına yüz sürmege degmez elün
Ey dil-i bî-çâre miskîn âsitânı yok mıdur
Tutalum sen mihr-i yâri Şâhî ikrâr itmedün
Rûy-ı zerdünde anun andan nişânı yok mıdur
Vasf-ı hâlünde bu ben Ferhâdun ey şîrîn-zebân
Söylenen dillerde şimdi dâstânı yok mıdur

In English

1. Your glance kills lovers and goes its way; is there no reckoning for their blood? Or, my life, have they no soul in your eyes?

2. Saying "today, tomorrow", our life has passed in longing; my friend, is there no time of union in this world?

3. How should the heart not moan in the land of separation; has it not a faithless heart-stealer like you?

4. I have spent my life with sighs in the land of separation; or have lovers no other dwelling than that?

5. Since your hand cannot reach to rub your face at the beloved's feet, O helpless, wretched heart, has she not a threshold?

6. Şâhî, suppose you have not confessed your love for the beloved; is there no sign of it on your pale face?

7. O sweet-tongued one, in the telling of my state, has not this Ferhad that I am a tale now told on every tongue?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal of seven couplets is written in the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern and stands on folio 9a of the manuscript. The redif is "yok mıdur" (is there not); Kılıç counts this expression among the redifs of the divan. The rhyme is formed by the "-ânı" sound in the words "kanı, cânı, zemânı, dil-sitânı, mekânı, âsitânı, nişânı, dâstânı". The pen name appears in the sixth couplet, and the seventh couplet comes after the pen-name couplet. The placing of the pen name before the last couplet departs from the usual arrangement of the divan ghazal; this observation is our own. G.25, which immediately follows in the edition, is also written with the same redif and metre.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Because the redif is a question, every couplet ends with a question whose answer is known, that is, with the figure of rhetorical question (istifham). In the opening couplet the beloved's glance kills lovers and goes its way; asking "kanı yok mıdur", the poet questions both the reckoning for the blood of the slain and whether they have any worth at all. The address to the beloved as "'ömrüm" (my life) also hides a word of love within this reproach. In the second couplet the words "hâ bugün yarın" (today, tomorrow) render the continual postponement of union in an utterance close to everyday speech.

In the third and fourth couplets the phrase "fürkat diyârı" (land of separation) is repeated; the lover has spent his life with sighs in this land. In the fifth couplet the heart whose hand cannot reach to rub its face at the beloved's feet is counselled at least to rub it on the threshold. The sixth couplet says that love cannot be concealed: even if the lover does not speak of his love, his pale face (rûy-ı zerd) is the sign of it. A sallow complexion is the familiar mark of lovesickness in divan poetry.

In the last couplet the beloved is addressed as "şîrîn-zebân" (sweet-tongued) and the poet calls himself "bu ben Ferhâd" (this Ferhad that I am). Besides its sense of sweet, the word "şîrîn" recalls Şirin, Ferhad's beloved; thus the lover becomes Ferhad and the beloved Şirin. The same double entendre (tevriye) is also used in the third couplet of the preceding ghazal. The poet closes the ghazal by saying that his love is a tale told on every tongue like the story of Ferhad. The ghazal contains nothing that points to a particular person or event.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 58, ghazal no. 24 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 9a); also p. 29 (redifs), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources