Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün

Yine gönlüm bir güzel cânân sever
Şâh-ı devrân hüsrev-i hûbân sever
Sîne tutdum hançer-i müjgânına
Gördüm ol mestâne gözlüm kan sever
Agla bülbül gibi bî-dil nâle kıl
Çünki ol gonce-dehen bârân sever
Cân atarsam vechi yok mı la’lüne
Hasteler meşhûrdur dermân sever
Yiryüzünde nice meh-rûyı koyup
Gökde gönlüm bir meh-i tâbân sever
‘Işk fark itmez garîbi baydan
Gâh olur kim bir gedâ bir hân sever
Yüzine taparsa hükm ider gönül
Dostum mü’min olan îmân sever
Dünyede maksûd vaslundur hemân
Şâhî ne hûrî vü ne gılmân sever

In English

1. My heart once again loves a beautiful beloved; (my heart,) the shah of the age, loves the sovereign of beauties.

2. I held up my breast against the dagger of her lashes; I saw that the one with the languid, drunken eyes loves blood.

3. O lover bereft of heart, weep and lament like the nightingale; for that rosebud-mouthed beloved loves the rain.

4. If I long for your lip, is there no reason for it? It is well known that the sick love their cure.

5. Leaving so many moon-faced ones on earth, my heart loves a shining moon in the sky.

6. Love makes no distinction between the stranger and the rich; it happens that a beggar loves a khan.

7. If the heart worships her face, it holds this to be right; my friend, the believer loves faith.

8. The aim in this world is only union with you; Şâhî loves neither the houri nor the youths of paradise.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal of eight couplets is written in "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün", the short pattern of the remel metre; since most of the ghazals in the divan use the four-foot form of this pattern, the lines here are short and quick. The redif is "sever" (loves), and the rhyme is the "-ân" sound in the words "cânân, hûbân, kan, bârân, dermân, tâbân, hân, îmân, gılmân"; "kan" in the second couplet, with its short vowel, is the loose link in this scheme. Kılıç counts "sever" among the refrains of the divan. In the edition the folio mark 20a stands at the end of the second couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The second line of the opening couplet can be read in two ways: "Şâh-ı devrân" either qualifies the heart (my heart, the shah of the age, loves the sovereign of beauties) or states a general rule (the shah of the age loves the shah of beauties). In our rendering we have taken the first reading. The poem is from beginning to end a series of small maxims built around the verb "sever": the beloved's eye loves blood, the rosebud loves rain, the sick love their cure, the believer loves faith. In each couplet the second line ties the lover's situation in the first line to a general truth; this is the device known in divan poetry as irsal-i mesel (adducing a proverb-like maxim).

In the third couplet the relation between the rosebud and the rain justifies the lover's tears: the bud opens with rain, and the beloved laughs at the lover's weeping. In the fifth couplet a contrast is drawn between the moon-faced ones on earth and the shining moon in the sky; the beloved is at an unreachable height. The pairs "garîb" and "bay" (the poor stranger and the rich man) and "gedâ" and "hân" (beggar and sovereign) in the sixth couplet complete each other through contrast. The seventh couplet is obscure: "hükm ider" can be read as the heart holding this worship to be right; the link between worshipping the face and faith says that the beloved's face is a matter of faith for the lover. In the last couplet even the houris and youths of paradise cannot take the place of union with the beloved; this is a familiar instance of union being placed above paradise in divan poetry.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 70-71, ghazal no. 50 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 20a); also p. 29 (refrains and metres), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources