Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün
Hâl ü hattun reng ü bûdur misk (ü) ‘anberden geçer
Dişlerün dürden lebün yâkût-ı ahmerden geçer
Hâk-i pâyüne yüz urup âsitânun hasretin
Taht-ı ‘âc-ı pür-zer ü tâc-ı mücevherden geçer
Kâmetün seyr eyleyen tûbâya egmez başını
La’l-i şîrînün gören cennetde Kevserden geçer
Mekteb-i hüsnünde dil tıflı kitâb-ı ‘ışkunı
Şöyle hıfz itmiş durur kim şimdi ezberden geçer
Tolaşaldan halka-i zülfüne cânâ tıfl-ı dil
Şöyle üstâd oldı kim nüh bâb-ı çenberden geçer
Başuna zülfi ucından irişen kara kazâ
Hükm-i takdîridür ey dil sanma ahterden geçer
Vir rızâ Şâhî kazâya fârig ol endîşeden
Hayr u şer evvel kalemde yazılan serden geçer
In English
1. Your beauty spot and the down on your face surpass musk and ambergris in colour and scent; your teeth surpass pearls, and your lip surpasses the red ruby.
2. He who rubs his face on the dust of your feet and longs for your threshold gives up both the gold-adorned ivory throne and the jewelled crown.
3. He who gazes at your stature does not bow his head to the Tûbâ tree (of Paradise); he who sees your sweet ruby lip forgoes the Kevser in Paradise.
4. In the school of your beauty the child that is the heart has learned the book of your love so well by heart that now it recites it from memory.
5. O beloved, ever since the child that is the heart was entangled in the ring of your locks it has become such a master that it passes through the nine gates of the hoop (the couplet can be read in two ways: like a child performer it leaps through nine hoops, or it passes beyond the nine heavens).
6. O heart, the black calamity that has come upon your head from the tip of her locks is the decree of destiny; do not think it comes from the stars (from fortune).
7. Şâhî, consent to destiny and be free of anxiety; good and evil alike come from what was written on the brow by the Pen in pre-eternity.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The ghazal of seven couplets is written in the pattern "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün". The redif is "geçer", the rhyme the sound "-erden": 'anberden, ahmerden, mücevherden, Kevserden, ezberden, çenberden, ahterden, serden. According to Kılıç's footnote the ghazal is a nazire (response poem) to Firâkî's ghazal with the opening couplet "Gûş iden güftâr-ı yârı kân-ı gevherden geçer / Nûş iden la'l-i nigârı âb-ı kevserden geçer". Firâkî Abdurrahman Efendi is among the poets named in Kılıç's introduction as part of Bayezid's literary circle in Kütahya; he was a preacher from Kütahya who spent some time at the prince's side. It is therefore likely that the ghazal is a product of the Kütahya years, of a contest in verse with a poet of the prince's gatherings; this inference is ours.
Kılıç notes that the ghazal appears in a somewhat different form in the Mecmû'atü'n-nezâ'ir, and gives this form in the footnote with a reference to the Pervâne Bey Mecmuası. That text has two opening couplets; the first begins with the line "'Ârızun reng ü letâfetde gül-i terden geçer". In the second couplet "yasdanan" is read for "hasretin", in the third "La'l-i meygûnun" for "La'l-i şîrînün". The fifth and sixth couplets of the divan are missing from the anthology; in their place stand the couplet "Katı gönlüne tayanma", which says that the lover's sigh pierces steel and marble, and the couplet "Çek elin benden".
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The skill of the ghazal lies in drawing the redif towards a different meaning in each couplet. In the opening couplet "geçer" means to surpass; in the second and third couplets it expresses giving something up, in the fourth reciting a lesson from memory, in the fifth passing through a place, and in the last two coming from a source. The fourth and fifth couplets set up a congruence of images (tenasüp) with the words school, child (tıfl), book, learning by heart and master. In the last couplet the phrase "serden geçer" suggests both coming from what is written on the brow and giving up one's head, that is, one's life. The sixth couplet joins the black locks to "kara kazâ" (black calamity) and, against the astrologer's belief that ties misfortune to the stars, puts destiny in the foreground. The idea of the lot written by the Pen in pre-eternity also occurs in the closing couplet of the twelfth ghazal, which Kılıç cites as an example. The second couplet, which speaks of giving up throne and crown, is a common motif, yet it comes from the pen of a prince.
Bibliography
- Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 62, ghazal no. 32 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225); also p. 21 (Firâkî), p. 29 (redifs), p. 31 (the closing couplet of the twelfth ghazal), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.
Online sources
