Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Fe’ûlün

Gönülden yâr olana sen de ey yâr
Vefâdâr ol vefâdâr ol vefâdâr
Cefâkâr olma lutf eyle habîbüm
Kem-âzâr ol kem-âzâr ol kem-âzâr
Kerem kıl ‘âşıkun hâlinden ey yâr
Haberdâr ol haberdâr ol haberdâr
Göreyin sini ben bir serv-kadde
Hevâdâr ol hevâdâr ol hevâdâr
Bu Şâhî düşdügi ‘ışka göreyin
Giriftâr ol giriftâr ol giriftâr

In English

1. O beloved, to one who has become your friend from the heart, be faithful too, be faithful, be faithful.

2. My beloved, do not be cruel, be kind; be gentle, be gentle, be gentle.

3. O beloved, be generous, be aware of your lover's state, be aware, be aware.

4. May I see you too given over to someone cypress-tall; be enamoured, be enamoured, be enamoured.

5. May I see you too fallen into a love such as Şâhî has fallen into; be captive, be captive, be captive.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal of five couplets is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün fe'ûlün" pattern of the hezec family and stands on folio 12b of the manuscript. There is no redif; the rhyme is formed by the "-âr" sound in the words "yâr, vefâdâr, kem-âzâr, haberdâr, hevâdâr, giriftâr". The pen name appears in the last couplet. The whole structure of the ghazal rests on the figure of repetition (tekrir): the second line of each couplet consists of the rhyme word said three times with the verb "ol" (be) ("Vefâdâr ol vefâdâr ol vefâdâr"). The metre of the line is filled exactly by this repetition; that is, in the second lines there are no words other than the rhyme word and "ol". This means that in a ghazal of five couplets five separate words are treated like refrains.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first three couplets of the ghazal are requests addressed to the beloved: she is asked to be faithful, to wound little, and to be aware of her lover's state. These requests are wishes set against the familiar faults of the beloved in divan poetry, namely her faithlessness, cruelty and indifference. Each is said in the imperative and, repeated three times, carries the insistence of a plea.

In the last two couplets the discourse changes. The verb "göreyin" (may I see) is in the optative mood, which in Turkish is used for both good wishes and curses. The poet wishes to see the beloved too given over to someone cypress-tall, fallen into a love such as he himself has fallen into. This is a wish that the beloved too should taste the pain of love; thus she will understand the lover's state through her own experience. The words "hevâdâr" (enamoured, eager) in the fourth couplet and "giriftâr" (captive, caught) in the fifth mark a passage from the requests of the first couplets to the wish for a harsher outcome. This reading is our own.

The language of the ghazal is plain and close to everyday speech; the only comparison relating to the beloved's beauty is "serv-kad" (cypress-tall) in the fourth couplet. Against the slightness of its themes and figures, the music created by repetition is the real element of the ghazal. Kılıç's observation about the murabbas, that rhyme and repetitions prepare the ground for fluent utterance, seems to hold for this ghazal too; this connection is our own. It is not known to whom or when it was written.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 61, ghazal no. 30 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 12b); also p. 30 (the music of rhyme and repetition in the murabbas), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources