Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Bir Süleymân-nâm şâha bu gönül dîvânedür
Kim cemâl-i şem’ine perler yakar pervânedür
La’l-i nâbun hasretiyle giceler tâ subha dek
Uyku girmez gözüme destümde bir peymânedür
‘Işk-ı dil-berden beni zâhid yine men’ eyleme
Girmez ancak gözüme sözün senün efsânedür
Vasl-ı dil-berle bu gönlüm hânesi ma’mûr iken
Hecr elinden hâliyâ başdan başa vîrânedür
Bellüdür âsâr-ı ‘ışkun rûy-ı zerdümden benüm
Anun içün dir gören Şâhî ‘aceb dîvânedür

In English

1. This heart is mad for a shah named Süleyman; it is a moth that burns its wings at the candle of his beauty.

2. Longing for your pure, bright lip, no sleep enters my eyes through the nights until dawn; in my hand there is a goblet.

3. O ascetic, do not try again to keep me from love of the beloved; your words never reach my eyes, they are nothing but a tale.

4. While the house of this heart of mine was prosperous with union with the beloved, now, at the hand of separation, it is a ruin from end to end.

5. The marks of your love are plain from my yellowed face; that is why whoever sees me says, "What a strange madman Şâhî is."

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal has five couplets and is written in the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern. The redif is the suffix "-dür"; the rhyme is the "-âne" sound in the words "dîvâne, pervâne, peymâne, efsâne, vîrâne, dîvâne". The rhyme word "dîvâne" is repeated in the opening couplet and in the couplet with the pen name, so the poem closes with the word it began with. In the edition the folio mark 19b stands at the head of the ghazal. The edition records nothing about to whom the poem was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first line of the opening couplet is striking: the heart is mad for a "Süleymân-nâm" shah, that is, a shah bearing the name Süleyman. In divan poetry Solomon is the prophet-king who rules over the jinn and the fairies; the traditional link between "perî" (fairy) and "dîvâne" (mad), the madness of one possessed by a fairy, leans on this name. The word "pervâne" in the second line belongs to the same family of sounds and brings in the candle-and-moth image: the lover is the moth that burns its wings at the candle of the beloved's beauty. In the phrase "perler yakar" (burns its wings) the word "per" (wing) plays on "perî" in sound.

In the second couplet the sleepless nights and the goblet held in the hand are linked by calling the lip "la'l-i nâb" (pure ruby, red wine): when the lip cannot be reached, the lover takes refuge in the wine that bears its colour. The third couplet repeats the familiar stance of the lover towards the ascetic who forbids love; the ascetic's word is "efsâne", an empty tale. In the fourth couplet the heart is a house; prosperous in union, a ruin in separation. The contrast between prosperous and ruined (tezat) carries the whole weight of the couplet. In the last couplet the sign of love is the yellow face, and the pen name is spoken by returning to the word "dîvâne" of the opening couplet.

Historical Context

Kılıç does not mention this ghazal among the poems addressed to the father. Yet the words "Süleymân-nâm şâh", from the pen of a poet who was the son of Sultan Süleyman the Lawgiver, readily turn towards the father. In other ghazals that Kılıç considers written to Süleyman, words seemingly spoken to a beloved are also turned towards the padishah. That this ghazal too may have been addressed to the father is our own reading; since the name Solomon is also used in divan poetry for the sovereign of beauties, the poem can equally be read as written to a beloved alone.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 70, ghazal no. 49 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 19b); also pp. 32-33 (poems addressed to the father), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources