Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün

Yaşum gibi dem olmaz kim dil ol suya revân olmaz
Yemîn itsem yolında öldügüm bi’llâh yalan olmaz
Gönül hod bile gitmişdür salardum tuhfe cânumda
Dirîgâ degme nesne ol cenâba armagan olmaz
Kadüm ok gibi togrıyken iki büküp kemân itdi
Cefâ yâyı gibi hergiz cihânda yig kemân olmaz
Firâkun irdi pâyâna dem-i vuslat mukarrerdür
Ki zîrâ bunlarun her biri dâ’im her zemân olmaz
Gam-ı hecrünle Şâhî derdmendün çekdügi derde
Nice tahrîr idem hâmeyle dillerle beyân olmaz

In English

1. Like my tears, there is no moment when my heart does not flow towards that water (that direction); if I swore that I have died on her path, by God, it would be no lie.

2. The heart has gone along (with her) already; I would offer my soul as a gift, but alas, nothing whatever can be a gift fit for that exalted one.

3. While my stature was straight as an arrow, (the beloved) bent it double and made it a bow; there is never a better bow in the world than the bow of cruelty.

4. Your separation has come to an end, the moment of union is certain; for neither of these lasts at all times.

5. How shall I write with the pen the pain that the sufferer Şâhî endures through the sorrow of separation? (That pain) cannot be told with tongues.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The five-couplet ghazal is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün" pattern of the hezec metre. The redif is "olmaz" (is not, does not become), and the rhyme is the "-an" sound in the words "revân, yalan, armagan, kemân, zemân, beyân". Both lines of the opening couplet rhyme; Turkish words such as "yalan" and "armagan" meet in the same rhyme with the Persian "revân" and "kemân". Kılıç counts the redif "olmaz" among the refrains of the divan. According to the list of metres in Kılıç's introduction, this pattern is used in nineteen Turkish ghazals and two murabbas of the divan. In the edition the folio mark 22b stands at the end of the second couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In the first line of the opening couplet the word "su" is open to two meanings: the water in which the tears flow, and the Persian "sû", that is, direction. Like the tears, the heart flows at every moment towards that water, that is, towards where the beloved is. This reading as a double entendre (tevriye) is our own; the edition writes the word as "suya". In the second couplet the lover looks for a gift for the beloved: the heart has already gone, the soul remains, but for "o cenâb" (that exalted one) nothing is a worthy gift. "Cenâb" is a respectful form of address and places the beloved in a high station.

The third couplet is built on the comparison of arrow and bow. In divan poetry the stature of a youth is upright like an arrow, while the lover's stature, bent by sorrow, is like a bow. Here the poet says that the beloved's "bow of cruelty" has bent his stature double, and turns this into praise: there is no better bow in the world. The use of "yâ" (bow) and "kemân" (bow) together in the same couplet strengthens the congruence of images (tenasüp). The fourth couplet is a philosophical consolation: neither separation nor union is permanent; if separation has ended, union is certain. The support of this thought by a general maxim in the second line is again an instance of irsal-i mesel. In the last couplet it is said that the pain cannot be written with the pen or told with the tongue; the harmony between "hâme" (pen) and "dil" (tongue) shows that writing and speech both fall short.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 75-76, ghazal no. 57 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 22b); also p. 29 (refrains), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources