Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Fe’ûlün

Ey peyk-i sabâ nâmemi dil-dâre irişdür
Ol nâmemi gûş eylemeyen yâre irişdür
Cân viriyorur bülbül-i dil hâr-ı hecirde
Ey çarh-ı felek anı o gülzâre irişdür
Kim didi sana haste dilüm la’lini koyup
Ey baht-ı siyeh turre-i tarrâre irişdür
Yandugumı bolay ki bile sûz-ı sühandân
Ey bâd sözüm yâr-ı cefâkâre irişdür
Kâr eylemeden zehr-i felek cânına cânâ
Bu Şâhî-i dil-hasteye bir çâre irişdür

In English

1. O courier of the morning breeze, carry my letter to the heart-stealing beloved; carry it to the beloved who does not lend an ear to my letter.

2. The nightingale of the heart is giving up its life on the thorn of separation; O turning sphere of heaven, bring it to that rose garden.

3. Who told you to make my sick heart leave the beloved's lip (and go elsewhere)? O black fortune, bring (me) to that cunning lock of hair that leads men astray.

4. In case one who understands words may know of my burning, O wind, carry my word to the tormenting beloved.

5. O beloved, before the poison of fate works upon his soul, bring some remedy to this heartsick Şâhî.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The redif of this five-couplet ghazal is "irişdür" (carry, bring), and the rhyme is the "-âre" sound in the words "dil-dâre, yâre, gülzâre, tarrâre, cefâkâre, çâre". Kılıç lists this redif separately among the refrains of the divan. In the edition the metre is given as "Mefâ'îlün Mefâ'îlün Mefâ'îlün Fe'ûlün"; however, most of the lines, especially the opening couplet and the first line of the last couplet, fit the pattern "Mef'ûlü Mefâ'îlü Mefâ'îlü Fe'ûlün". The list of twelve metres that Kılıç gives in the introduction contains no pattern "Mefâ'îlün Mefâ'îlün Mefâ'îlün Fe'ûlün", while "Mef'ûlü Mefâ'îlü Mefâ'îlü Fe'ûlün" is counted as the metre of thirteen Turkish ghazals. This observation is our own, and the text has not been altered. In the edition the ghazal falls on folio 19a; the form "viriyorur" in the second couplet differs from the usual "viriyor" or "virür" and may be a typesetting or manuscript peculiarity.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Each couplet addresses an intermediary: the courier of the morning breeze, the turning sphere, black fortune, the wind and finally the beloved herself. In divan poetry the morning breeze (saba) is the envoy carrying news between lover and beloved; here the task given to it is plainly a letter. In the second couplet the heart is a nightingale, separation a thorn and the beloved's presence a rose garden; this familiar relation between rose and nightingale is tied to the idea that separation is the thorn of the rose. In the third couplet there is a harmony of colour between "baht-ı siyeh" (black fortune) and "turre-i tarrâre" (the cunning lock that waylays): what is asked of black fortune is to bring the lover to black hair. The closeness of sound between "turre" and "tarrâre" also gives the couplet the air of a pun (cinas). The phrase "sûz-ı sühandân" in the fourth couplet can be read in two ways: the burning understood by one who knows words, or the burning of a master of words. We have taken the first reading.

Historical Context

When Kılıç lists the poems addressed to the poet's father, he quotes the opening couplet of this ghazal among the examples of the voice of "a son awaiting letters from his father" in the divan. In the introduction the ghazal is cited as "G49/1"; its number in the text is 48, a shift also seen in other references in the introduction. According to Kılıç, Bayezid wrote many letters to his father conveying requests, pleas and appeals for pardon, both to avoid going from Kütahya to Amasya and while he was with the shah in Iran, and he received no answer to most of them. The words "nâmemi gûş eylemeyen yâr" (the beloved who does not lend an ear to my letter) in the opening couplet match this situation. It is not known after which letter or in which year the ghazal was written; the poem can be read as addressed to a beloved, or, following Kılıç's interpretation, as directed at Süleyman the Lawgiver.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 69-70, ghazal no. 48 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 19a); also p. 29 (refrains) and p. 32 (quotation of the opening couplet in the introduction as "G49/1" among the poems addressed to the father), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources