Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Hasret-i zülfün nigârâ eşkümi bârân kılur
Bu dil-i pür-gam anunçün dâ’imâ efgân kılur
Gül yüzün ayrulıgı ey lâle-had dâ’im beni
Giceler tâ subha dek bülbül gibi nâlân kılur
Devletünde pâdişâhum bu revâ mı gözlerün
Leşker-i gam gönderüp dil mülkini vîrân kılur
El uzatmış yine reh-zen kâkülün ruhsâruna
Kâfir-i bed-fikr gör kim gâret-i îmân kılur
Ey şeh-i mülk-i melâhat dest-gîr olmaz isen
Ceyş-i gam dil mülkini pâ-mâl idüp tâlân kılur
Gözlerüm yaşını ger kurtarmaya hecrün odı
Seyl-i eşküm bu cihânı ‘âkıbet ‘ummân kılur
Hacc-ı ekberdür cemâlün ey Halîlüm ‘ışkuna
Ka’be-i kûyunda Şâhî cânını kurbân kılur

In English

1. O beauty, longing for your locks turns my tears into rain; that is why this sorrowful heart forever moans.

2. O tulip-cheeked one, separation from your rose face makes me moan like a nightingale every night until dawn.

3. My sovereign, is this right in your reign: your eyes send an army of grief and lay waste the realm of the heart?

4. Your highwayman forelock has once again stretched its hand towards your cheek; see this evil-minded infidel who plunders faith.

5. O king of the realm of beauty, if you do not take my hand, the army of grief will trample the realm of the heart underfoot and plunder it.

6. If the fire of your separation did not dry the tears of my eyes, the flood of my tears would in the end turn this world into an ocean.

7. O my Halîl (my Abraham), your beauty is the great pilgrimage for love; in the Kaaba of your street Şâhî sacrifices his soul.

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 18a of the manuscript. The redif is "kılur" (makes), the rhyme the sound "-ân": bârân, efgân, nâlân, vîrân, îmân, tâlân, 'ummân, kurbân. "Kılur" is also in Kılıç's list of redifs. The pen name appears in the last couplet. There is no information on to whom it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first two couplets open with images of spring, likening the tears to rain and the lover to a nightingale moaning through the night; these images then give way to the language of war. The middle part of the ghazal is built like a scene of war and sovereignty. In the third couplet the beloved is addressed as "pâdişâhum" (my sovereign), and she is asked whether it is right that in her "devlet", her reign, her eyes should send an army of grief and destroy the realm of the heart. The fifth couplet completes the same scene: if the king of the realm of beauty does not take the lover's hand, the army of grief will trample and plunder the realm of the heart. There is a clear congruence of images (tenasüp) between the words reign, army, realm, ruined, king, troops, trampled and plunder. This language of reproach, reminding a ruler of injustice, sounds as if it came from the mouth of a subject presenting his complaint to the sultan.

In the fourth couplet the forelock is likened to a highwayman (reh-zen). The blackness of the forelock suggests unbelief, the brightness of the cheek faith; when the forelock falls over the cheek, the infidel has plundered faith. This antithesis between unbelief and faith is a well-known use in divan poetry of the contrast between black hair and a shining face. The sixth couplet is a hyperbole based on the opposition of water and fire: if the fire of separation did not dry the tears, the flood of tears would turn the world into an ocean.

In the closing couplet images of the pilgrimage come together. The beloved is addressed as "Halîlüm", that is, by the epithet of the prophet Abraham, who built the Kaaba and prepared to sacrifice his son. The beloved's beauty is the great pilgrimage (hacc-ı ekber) for love; her street is the Kaaba, and there Şâhî sacrifices his soul. Pilgrimage, Kaaba and sacrifice form a congruence of images. The allusion to Halîl and the Kaaba is also seen in the third couplet of the thirty-sixth ghazal of the divan.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 68, ghazal no. 44 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 18a); also p. 29 (redifs), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources