Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Fe’ûlün

Ciger hecrün ile pür-hûn olupdur
Gönül derdün ile mahzûn olupdur
Düşelden vâdî-i hicrâna ey dost
Gözüm yaşı benümçün hûn olupdur
Kadün vasfında nazm-ı dil-pezîrüm
Bülend ü nâzük ü mevzûn olupdur
Gözümden gül yüzün mehcûr olaldan
Yaşumdan yiryüzi gül-gûn olupdur
Görelden leylî-i zülfüni Şâhî
Perîşân-hâtır u mecnûn olupdur

In English

1. Through separation from you my liver has filled with blood; through the pain you give my heart has grown sorrowful.

2. O friend, ever since I fell into the valley of separation, the tears of my eye have turned to blood for me.

3. In describing your stature my heart-winning verse has become lofty, delicate and well-measured.

4. Ever since your rose face was parted from my eyes, the face of the earth has been dyed rose-red by my tears.

5. Since he saw your locks, dark as night like Leylâ, Şâhî has become distracted in mind and mad like Mecnun.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal of five couplets is written in the pattern "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün fe'ûlün" and stands on folio 19a of the manuscript. The redif is "olupdur" (has become), the rhyme the sound "-ûn": pür-hûn, mahzûn, hûn, mevzûn, gül-gûn, mecnûn. "Olupdur" is also in Kılıç's list of redifs. The word "hûn" (blood) serves as rhyme in the compound "pür-hûn" in the opening couplet and on its own in the second couplet. The pen name appears in the last couplet. There is no information on to whom it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is a short and plain poem of separation. In the opening couplet liver and heart are set side by side: the liver has filled with blood from separation, the heart has grown sorrowful from pain. The ghazal's scheme of colour develops from couplet to couplet. In the second couplet the tears turn to blood, and in the fourth these bloody tears dye the face of the earth rose-red. The phrase valley of separation (vâdî-i hicrân) also makes one think of the place into which the lover has fallen as a desert or a valley, and prepares the Mecnun of the last couplet.

In the middle of the ghazal the third couplet turns to the poet's own verse. The poem describing the beloved's stature has become "bülend ü nâzük ü mevzûn". These three adjectives fit both stature and verse: for the stature, tall, slender and well-proportioned; for the verse, lofty, delicate and metrical. Thus the beauty described and the speech describing it unite in the same words. The same play, with the word "mevzûn", is also seen in the thirty-seventh ghazal. Kılıç notes that couplets in which Şâhî praises his own poetry are few and measured; this couplet too keeps its measure by tying the praise to the beloved's beauty.

In the closing couplet the words "leylî-i zülf" and "mecnûn" form a double entendre (tevriye). "Leylî" means black as night and describes the locks; at the same time it recalls Leylâ. "Mecnûn" means mad and is at the same time the name of Leylâ's lover. On seeing the black locks Şâhî has lost his reason and become like Mecnun, who saw Leylâ. Thus the pain that began in the liver in the opening couplet follows a path from the eye to the face of the earth and from there to the mind, and ends with the loss of reason.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 69, ghazal no. 47 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 19a); 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