Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Başumun sevdâ-yı zülfünle belâsı vardur
Çeşmümün serv-i kadünle mâ-cerâsı vardur
Dâ’im ey dil dil-berün ancak cefâsı vardur
N’eylesün her kûşede bin mübtelâsı vardur
Ey gönül aldanma cânânun vefâ vü mihrine
Kim anun bir mihrine yüz bin cefâsı vardur
Var iken lutf u kerem zulm ü sitemden vazgel
Her işün lâ-büd bilürsin hod cezâsı vardur
Gül yüzün vasfında cânâ ‘andelîb-i tab’umun
Sad hezârân âferîn rengîn-edâsı vardur
Gerçi çokdur ol perînün ‘âşık-ı şûrîdesi
Sizmezem Şâhî gibi bir mübtelâsı vardur
Ben nice sıhhat recâ idem ki cânâ derdümün
Vasl-ı dil-ber gibi bulınmaz devâsı vardur

In English

1. My head has its calamity with the passion for your locks; my eye too has its "mâ-cerâ" (its affair, and the tears flowing from it) with your cypress stature.

2. O heart, the heart-stealer has nothing but cruelty, always; what can she do, she has a thousand captives in every corner.

3. O heart, do not be deceived by the beloved's faithfulness and love; for for every one act of love she has a hundred thousand cruelties.

4. While kindness and generosity exist, give up tyranny and oppression; you know that every deed surely has its retribution.

5. O beloved, in describing your rose face the nightingale of my nature has a colourful manner of speech worthy of a hundred thousand bravos.

6. It is true that that fairy has many frenzied lovers; but I do not think she has a captive like Şâhî.

7. O beloved, how should I hope for health, when my pain has a remedy as rare as union with the heart-stealer?

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" and stands on folio 16b of the manuscript. The redif is "vardur" (there is, has), the rhyme the sound "-âsı": belâsı, mâ-cerâsı, cefâsı, mübtelâsı, cezâsı, edâsı, devâsı. Both lines of the second couplet rhyme; the couplet stands like a second opening couplet. "Cefâsı" serves as rhyme twice, in the second and third couplets, and "mübtelâsı" twice, in the second and sixth. The pen name appears in the sixth couplet, and the ghazal continues for one more couplet after it. "Vardur" is also among the redifs in Kılıç's list. There is no information on to whom it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In the opening couplet the word "mâ-cerâ" enters into a subtle play. Today the word is used in the sense of incident and adventure, but in its Arabic root it means "that which flows". The eye has its mâ-cerâ with the cypress stature; the tears flow towards the beloved's stature like a stream running at the foot of a cypress. Since it is a well-known motif that the cypress grows at the water's edge, "mâ-cerâ" expresses both a love story and the flow of tears; this double reading is ours. Head and eye, passion (sevdâ) and calamity (belâ) also complement each other.

In the third couplet the word "mihr" is in the sense of love; for every one act of love from the beloved there are a hundred thousand cruelties. The fourth couplet gives the beloved a piece of advice: while the path of kindness and generosity is open she should give up tyranny, for every deed has its requital. The lover's giving moral counsel to the beloved is an unexpected tone in a ghazal. In the fifth couplet the poet's poetic gift is likened to a nightingale: the "'andelîb-i tab'" (nightingale of nature), in describing the rose face, has a colourful manner of speech that deserves a hundred thousand bravos. As Kılıç notes, couplets in which Şâhî praises his own poetry are few; this couplet too is among those measured praises.

The "Sizmezem" of the sixth couplet is the old spelling of the word "sezmezem" (I do not sense, I do not think). The last couplet ends the ghazal in the language of medicine: the pain has a remedy, but this remedy is a medicine as rare as union with the beloved; that is why the lover cannot hope to recover.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 66-67, ghazal no. 41 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 16b); also p. 29 (redifs), p. 42 (the poet's praise of his own poetry), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources