Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün

Fürkatünden hasret ile ey nigâr
Zâr zâram zâr zâram zâr zâr
Zülfün ile gün yüzüni görmege
Bî-karâram bî-karâram bî-karâr
Lebleründen bûse almaga yine
İntizâram intizâram intizâr
Nice yıldur hasretiyle dem-be-dem
Eşk-bâram eşk-bâram eşk-bâr
Tâbiş-i mihr-i ruhunla zerre-vâr
Tabdâram tabdâram tabdâr
Cür’a-i câm-ı lebünden ben senün
Pür-humâram pür-humâram pür-humâr
‘Işk-ı dil-berle ölürsem Şâhiyâ
Bahtiyâram bahtiyâram bahtiyâr

In English

1. O beauty, through separation from you I moan with longing, I moan; I moan without end.

2. To see your sun-bright face together with your locks I am restless, restless; I have no peace left.

3. To take a kiss from your lips once more I wait, I wait; my eyes are on the road.

4. For how many years, with longing for that lip, I have shed tears at every moment, shed tears; my weeping does not cease.

5. In the heat of the sun of your cheek I glitter like a mote of dust, I glitter; I am all on fire.

6. From a single sip of the cup of your lip I am languid with wine, languid; I am wholly weighed down with its intoxication.

7. O Şâhî, if I die of love for the heart-stealer I am fortunate, fortunate; I am a man of good fortune.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal of seven couplets is written in "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün", the short pattern of the remel metre; according to Kılıç's tally there are eleven ghazals in the divan using this pattern. It stands on folio 13a of the manuscript. There is no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is the sound "-âr": nigâr, zâr, bî-karâr, intizâr, eşk-bâr, tabdâr, pür-humâr, bahtiyâr. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. There is no information on to whom or on what occasion it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The whole weight of the ghazal lies in the second lines. Every second line is built on the same pattern: a word describing the lover's state is said twice with the suffix "-am" (I am) and repeated a third time without it ("Zâr zâram zâr zâram zâr zâr"). This device of repetition (tekrir) gives the poem a melodic, almost song-like delivery. When the rhyme words are set side by side, an inventory of the lover's states emerges: a lover who moans, who is restless, who waits, who sheds tears, who burns and glitters, and who is languid with wine. The last couplet reverses the series; dying of love for the heart-stealer is not presented as a calamity but, with the word "bahtiyâr", as good fortune.

The first lines run through familiar images of divan poetry: the sun-like face and the locks that frame it, the lip from which a kiss is awaited, the mote trembling in the sunlight, and the lip likened to a cup of wine. In the fifth couplet the lover is compared to a mote before the sun of the cheek; the mote becomes visible and shines in sunlight, so the word "tâb-dâr" (possessed of heat and radiance) covers both burning and shining. In the edition this word is printed "Tabdâram". The metre requires the first syllable to be read long, that is, the form "tâb-dâr"; the text has not been altered, and this observation is ours. The "cür'a" of the sixth couplet is the last sip left at the bottom of the cup; even with this small sip the lover remains languid.

The phrasing of the first line, ending "hasret ile ey nigâr" (with longing, O beauty), also occurs in the seventh stanza of the fifteenth murabba of the divan, together with the same "-âr" rhyme and the word "zâr" ("Ayrılalı gün yüzünden hasret ile ey nigâr"). The poet can be seen reusing this pattern in different verse forms.

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. 31 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 13a); also p. 29 (metres), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources