Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Fe’ûlün

Didüm emsem olur mı la’lün ey yâr
Didi cânundı ol olmaz yüri var
Lebün gördükde ditrer üstine cân
Nitekim suya karşu teşne bîmâr
Cefâ-yı yârdan korkarsan ey dil
Sakın ‘arz-ı mahabbet itme zinhâr
Benüm cân virdügümden n’oldı andan
Sen olmayınca hâlümden haber-dâr
Komaz küfrin başın kesmekle zülfün
Ne tebdîl-i libâs eyler ne zünnâr
Ezelden bî-vefâlar ‘âdetidür
Alup ‘uşşâk gönlin itmek inkâr
Hatâdur mihrine aldanma Şâhî
Vefâsuz pîre-zendür çarh-ı gaddâr

In English

1. I said, "O beloved, may I suck your ruby lips?" She said, "That is your soul; it cannot be, go away."

2. When the soul sees your lips it trembles over them, just as a thirsty sick man trembles before water.

3. O heart, if you fear the cruelty of the beloved, beware, never declare your love.

4. What came of my giving up my soul, as long as you are not aware of my state?

5. Your locks do not abandon their unbelief though their head be cut; they neither change their garb nor put off the girdle of unbelief.

6. To take the hearts of lovers and then deny it has been the custom of the faithless since eternity.

7. O Şâhî, it is a mistake to be deceived by its love; that treacherous wheel of fortune is a faithless old crone.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal of seven couplets is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün fe'ûlün" pattern of the hezec family and stands on folio 10b of the manuscript. There is no redif; the rhyme is formed by the "-âr / -ar" sound in the words "yâr, var, bîmâr, zinhâr, haber-dâr, zünnâr, inkâr, gaddâr". The word "var" (go) in the second line of the opening couplet is fitted to this sound with its short vowel. The pen name appears in the last couplet. The ghazal "G.28 hoş mıdur", which Kılıç cites in the introduction as an example of the poems written to the poet's father, is G.27 in the text because of the shift in numbering in the introduction; it has no connection with this ghazal.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet is a couplet of dialogue (mükâleme). The lover asks permission to suck the beloved's lips, and the beloved answers, "That is your soul; it cannot be, go away." The word "cânundı" can be read either as "is your soul" or as "was your soul"; in the first reading the lips are the lover's soul and the soul cannot be sucked, in the second the soul has already been given to the lips and it is too late. We have followed the first reading. In the second couplet the soul, on seeing the lips, trembles like a thirsty sick man before water; the reckoning of the lips as the water of life is the basis of this comparison.

The third and fourth couplets complain of the beloved's indifference: let one who fears cruelty not reveal his love, and the lover's giving up his soul is in vain as long as the beloved is unaware of it. The fifth couplet is the most artful of the ghazal. In divan poetry black locks are associated with unbelief, and curled hair with the "zünnâr", the girdle that Christians tied around their waists. The cutting of the hair is expressed with the words "cutting off the head of unbelief"; an unbeliever does not change his religion even if his head is cut off, and the locks too, though cut, neither change their garb nor untie their girdle. This play between cutting hair and cutting off heads is our own observation.

The sixth couplet states the eternal custom of the faithless as a general verdict. In the last couplet faithlessness is transferred from the beloved to fortune: the "çarh-ı gaddâr" (treacherous wheel of fortune) is likened to a faithless old crone (pîre-zen). The likening of the world or of fortune to an old crone is a familiar simile in divan poetry. According to the reading of the Mecmû'atü'n-nezâ'ir reported by Kılıç, the same comparison also occurs in the third couplet of G.8 ("Ârif isen pîre-zen dehre gönül virme sakın"); this connection is our own.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 60, ghazal no. 28 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 10b); also p. 51 (G.8, footnote 90), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources