Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün
Bilmezem ben bendesin şâhum niçün yâd eylemez
Bir varak-nâmeyle çokdandur anup şâd eylemez
Dem-be-dem ol çeşm-i mestün gamze-i hûn-rîzinün
‘Âşıkına itdügin bi’llâhi cellâd eylemez
‘Asker-i gamla gönül mülkini pâ-mâl eyledün
Ey şeh-i zâlim bu zulmi degme bî-dâd eylemez
Ey kemân-ebrû bu hâlât ile çeşm-i mestüne
Kim görüp kanlu diyü bin dürlü isnâd eylemez
Pâdişâhum degme derd ile gelüp dergâhuna
Şâhî-i bî-çâre benden böyle feryâd eylemez
In English
1. I do not know why my shah does not remember his servant; for a long time he has not thought of him and gladdened him with a single-leaf letter.
2. What the blood-shedding glance of that drunken eye of yours does to its lover at every moment, by God, not even an executioner would do.
3. You have trampled the realm of the heart with the army of sorrow; O tyrant shah, not even any oppressor would commit this tyranny.
4. O you with bow-shaped brows, who, seeing your drunken eye in such states, would not call it "bloody" and charge it with a thousand kinds of crime?
5. My padishah, not everyone who comes to your court in pain cries out like me, like helpless Şâhî.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The five-couplet ghazal is written in the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern. The redif is "eylemez" (does not do), and the rhyme is the "-âd" sound in the words "yâd, şâd, cellâd, bî-dâd, isnâd, feryâd". Kılıç counts the redif "eylemez" among the refrains of the divan. In the edition the ghazal falls on folio 21b.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The poem interweaves two different languages. In the first, third and fifth couplets the addressee is called "şâhum" (my shah), "şeh-i zâlim" (tyrant shah) and "pâdişâhum" (my padishah), and the poem speaks in the words of the relation between servant and padishah: not remembering one's servant, sending no letter, trampling a realm with an army, the petitioner crying out at the court. In the second and fourth couplets, on the other hand, the classic picture of the beloved comes to the fore: the drunken eye, the blood-shedding lash, the bow-shaped brow. These two languages are already close to each other in divan poetry, since the beloved is mostly portrayed like a ruler. The metaphors "'asker-i gam" (army of sorrow) and "gönül mülki" (realm of the heart) in the third couplet liken the pain of love to the invasion of a country. In the fourth couplet the accusation of the eye as "bloody" continues the likening of lashes to arrows and of the glance to a shedder of blood. The phrase "degme derd ile" in the last couplet can be understood in two ways: not every sufferer cries out like me, or no one who comes with an ordinary pain cries out like this. Both readings stress the extraordinary nature of the poet's pain.
Historical Context
When Kılıç lists the poems Bayezid addressed to his father, he quotes the opening couplet of this ghazal as an example of the voice of a son awaiting letters from his father. In the introduction the ghazal is cited as "G56/1"; its number in the text is 55. According to Kılıç, Bayezid wrote many letters to his father, both to avoid going from Kütahya to Amasya and while he was with the shah in Iran; most of them never reached Süleyman, and to some of them the padishah did not see fit to reply. The line "Bir varak-nâmeyle çokdandur anup şâd eylemez" is one of the plainest expressions of this unanswered waiting. The address "Pâdişâhum" in the fifth couplet also supports Kılıç's interpretation. The edition does not state in which year the ghazal was written.
Bibliography
- Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 75, ghazal no. 55 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 21b); also p. 29 (refrains) and p. 32 (quotation of the opening couplet in the introduction as "G56/1" among the poems addressed to the father), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.
Online sources
