Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün

Tolaşup zülfine n’eylerdün dilâ
Yok yire başuna aldun bir belâ
Hâlün üstine hurûc idüp hatun
Cânuma oldı belâ üzre belâ
Ey cefâ-hûdur diyenler dil-beri
İhtiyâr itdüm ben anı hayr ola
Mest yaturken şu hûnî gözlerün
Bûseden çeksün lebün olmaz m’ola
Var yok agzuna düşmez yok denk
Kût-ı cândur leblerün sun dime lâ
Dilde zülfünle mufassal kıssadan
Yazdı yüzüm üzre eşküm mücmelâ
Tâ ezelden hey kıyâmet kaddüne
Mübtelâdur cân-ı Şâhî mübtelâ

In English

1. O heart, what were you about, getting entangled in her locks; you have brought a calamity upon your head for nothing.

2. When your down (the first down on the cheek) rose up in revolt above your mole, calamity upon calamity befell my soul.

3. O you who say that this charmer has a cruel nature; I have chosen her, may it turn out well.

4. While those bloodthirsty eyes of yours lie drunk, would it not do if (the heart) drew (drank) a kiss from your lips?

5. It does not befit your mouth that one should ask whether it exists or not; your lips are the soul's sustenance, offer them, do not say "lâ" (no).

6. Of the long and detailed tale about your locks that is in my heart, my tears have written a summary upon my face.

7. O you whose stature raises the Resurrection, since eternity the soul of Şâhî is in thrall to your stature, in thrall.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This ghazal of seven couplets is written in "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün", the short pattern of the remel family; according to Kılıç there are eleven Turkish ghazals in this pattern in the divan. There is no redif. The rhyme rests on the "-lâ / -la" sound in the words "dilâ, belâ, ola, m'ola, lâ, mücmelâ, mübtelâ"; the word "belâ" serves once more as rhyme in the second couplet. The pen name appears in the last couplet. In the divan manuscript the ghazal stands on folio 55b, far from the ghazals at the beginning; as Kılıç states, it was he who arranged the ghazals in alphabetical order.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet begins in a voice that scolds the heart entangled in the locks. In the second couplet the appearance of the down on the face (hat) is expressed with the word "hurûc", which means both to come out and to rebel. The down rising "above" the mole is thus portrayed at the same time as an act of revolt. The fact that the word "hâl" means both mole and condition also allows a second reading of this couplet; these two double entendres (tevriye) are our own observation. In the third couplet the poet answers those who remind him of the beloved's cruelty by saying that he has chosen her knowingly, and with "hayr ola" (may it turn out well) he takes the matter in good part.

The fourth couplet can be read in two ways. The subject of the verb "çeksün" is not stated in the line; what may be meant is that the heart "draws" a kiss from the lips, drinking it as one drinks wine, while the beloved's eyes sleep drunk. The first line of the fifth couplet reads "Var yok agzuna düşmez yok denk" in the edition, and its meaning is obscure. In divan poetry the beloved's mouth, because of its smallness, is reckoned "nonexistent"; we think the poet is saying that a dispute over whether such a mouth exists or not is unbecoming, but this reading is not certain, and in our view the function of the word "denk" here remains unresolved. The word "lâ" (no) in the second line plays on the "nonexistence" of the mouth.

In the sixth couplet there is a contrast between "mufassal" (detailed) and "mücmel" (summary). A long tale about the locks is kept in the heart; the tears have written it on the face in brief. A fine link is also drawn between the length of the hair and the length of the tale. In the last couplet the beloved's stature is described with the word "kıyâmet" (Resurrection); a stature that raises the Resurrection expresses, in divan poetry, the turmoil caused by the gait of the cypress-tall beauty. The way the words "ezel" (pre-eternity) and "kıyâmet" set the beginning and the end of time against each other also gives the couplet a further depth.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 49, ghazal no. 5 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 55b); also p. 29 (rearrangement of the ghazals and metres), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources