Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Dil-berün cevr ü cefâdan bana kasdı gayrıdur
‘Âşık u ma’şûk hâli gayra uymaz ayrıdur
Dâg sanman tekye-i sînemde yir yir görinen
Şem’ yakdı ‘ışk ocagına nigârun hayrıdur
Yakma gönlüm hânesini anda senden gayrı yok
Ey Halîlüm Ka’bedür ol sanma Âzer deyridür
Dün gice zencîr-i zülfin boynuma takdum dimiş
Yâ hayâlidür dil-i dîvânenün yâ seyridür
Bûse isterse lebünden Şâhî ey ‘Îsâ-nefes
Bî-huzûr olma dilin çiyner ölümli sayrıdur

In English

1. The heart-stealer's purpose in showing me cruelty and oppression is something else; the state of lover and beloved does not conform to that of others, it is apart.

2. Do not take what appears here and there in the dervish lodge of my breast for brand marks; they are candles the beloved has lit at the hearth of love as a pious deed.

3. Do not burn the house of my heart, there is no one there but you; O my Halîl (my Abraham), it is a Kaaba, do not take it for Âzer's idol temple.

4. She is said to have declared that last night she put the chain of her locks around my neck; is this a fancy of the mad heart, or something it truly saw?

5. O beloved with the breath of Jesus, if Şâhî asks a kiss of your lips do not be troubled; he is a sick man at the point of death, he raves.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal of five couplets is written in the pattern "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" and stands on folio 15a of the manuscript. The redif is the suffix "-dur/-dür" (is); the rhyme rests on the sound "-yrı": gayrı, ayrı, hayrı, deyri, seyri, sayrı. Three of the rhyme words have the sound "-ay-" and three "-ey-"; although they do not match perfectly in sound, in writing they form a rhyme built on the same letters. The pen name appears in the last couplet. There is no information on to whom it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet begins by saying that the beloved's torment has a purpose other than what appears; the relation between lover and beloved cannot be understood by ordinary measures. The second couplet is built with words taken from the world of the Sufi orders. The lover's breast is a dervish lodge (tekke); love is the hearth of this lodge. The burn scars, the brands (dâg), that lovers make on their breasts are likened here to candles the beloved has lit "for good", as a pious deed. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between the words lodge, hearth, candle and pious deed; "ocak" (hearth) denotes both the place where a fire is lit and a branch of a Sufi order.

The third couplet is built on an allusion to the prophet Abraham. Halîl is the epithet of the prophet Abraham; it is well known that he built the Kaaba, while his father Âzer made and sold idols. The poet addresses the beloved who wants to burn his heart as "Halîlüm" (my Abraham) and reminds her that the heart is not an idol temple but a Kaaba in which there is no one but the beloved. Placing Abraham, who broke the idols and was thrown into the fire, in the role of the one who burns adds a subtle irony to the couplet; this interpretation is ours.

In the fourth couplet the chain and the mad heart come together; since madmen were once kept in chains, the comparison of the locks to a chain is apt. The second line of the couplet hangs between two possibilities: is this saying a fancy of the mad heart, or something that really happened? In the last couplet the beloved is credited with the breath of Jesus, who raised the dead. We have understood the phrase "dilin çiyner" (chews his tongue) as the raving of a patient at the point of death; this reading is ours. On this reading Şâhî's request for a kiss should be excused like the raving of a sick man, and moreover the beloved with the breath of Jesus is this sick man's only cure.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 64, ghazal no. 36 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 15a); also p. 29 (metres), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources