Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Zülfüne gönlüm esîr itdün günâhı yok mıdur
N’ola boynı baglu bendense İlâhı yok mıdur
Her zeınân ceyş-i hatun ılgar ider dil üstine
Bu harâb-âbâd mülkün pâdişâhı yok mıdur
‘Işk ilinün n’ola da’vâ kılsa dil serverlügin
Ferr-i mihrün gibi başında külâhı yok mıdur
Dime ey dil irmedüm zıll-ı hümâya kim senün
Başun üzre sâye-i zülf-i siyâhı yok mıdur
N’ola Şâhî yâr istignâ satarsa nâz ile
Kûşe-i çeşm-i ‘inâyetle nigâhı yok mıdur

In English

1. You have made my heart a captive of your locks; is there no sin in that? What if he is a servant with his neck bound; has he not a God?

2. The army of your down is ever raiding over the heart; has this ruined land no king?

3. What if the heart lays claim to the lordship of the land of love; has it not a cap on its head like the splendour of your love (your sun)?

4. O heart, do not say that you have not attained the shadow of the huma bird; for is not the shadow of her black locks over your head?

5. Şâhî, what if the beloved coquettishly displays indifference; has she not a glance from the corner of the eye of favour?

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 9b of the manuscript. The redif, as in the preceding ghazal, is "yok mıdur"; the rhyme is the "-âhı" sound in the words "günâhı, İlâhı, pâdişâhı, külâhı, siyâhı, nigâhı". The pen name appears in the last couplet. The word "zeınân" in the first line of the second couplet is printed in this form in the edition (checked against the PDF image); it is clearly a typesetting error for the word "zemân" (time). The text has not been altered, and the sense "time" has been followed in the rendering.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The notable side of the ghazal is that it describes love in the language of a realm and of sovereignty. In the second couplet it is said that the down on the face raids (ılgar) the heart like an army (ceyş); the heart is a ruined land without a king. In the third couplet the heart lays claim to the "serverlik", the lordship, of the land of love, and as grounds it points to the cap on its head, like the splendour of the beloved's love. The fourth couplet mentions the huma bird. This bird, believed to raise to fortune anyone on whose head its shadow falls, is in divan poetry the symbol of sovereignty and good fortune; the poet holds the shadow of the beloved's black locks equal to the shadow of the huma.

There is a clear congruence of images (tenasüp) between the words army, raid, land, king, claim to lordship, cap and huma. This language is the common material of divan poetry; still, one may think that it gains a particular weight from the pen of a prince who entered a struggle for the throne. This assessment is our own reading; the source draws no connection between the ghazal and Bayezid's life, and the time of writing is unknown.

In the opening couplet the beloved has made the heart a captive of her locks; the poet asks whether this is not a sin and reminds her that a servant with his neck bound also has a God. The meeting of the words "günâh" (sin) and "İlâh" (God) in rhyme suggests that the reckoning for this captivity is left to divine justice. In the last couplet the beloved's "selling indifference", that is, coquettishly displaying unconcern, is forgiven; for a glance of favour cast from the corner of her eye is worth everything. The image of the glance from the corner of the eye also occurs in the fourth couplet of G.13 with the same words "kûşe-i çeşm" and "'inâyet".

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 58-59, ghazal no. 25 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 9b); also p. 29 (redifs), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources