Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Raht u bahtı terk idüp ‘âlemde hoş-hâl olmışuz
Gıll u gışşından cihânun fârigü’l-bâl olmışuz
Nice sâfî olmasun âyîne-veş gönlüm benüm
Niçe niçe pûte-i mihnetde biz kâl olmışuz
Zülf-i sevdânı görelden şöyle hayrân oldı dil
Tekye-i ‘ışkunda cânâ yine hayrân olmışuz
Gün yüzünün hasretinden yine çeşmüm kan döker
Ol sebeble hûn-ı dilden cümleten al olmışuz
Sırr-ı râz anlar kimesne bulmamakdan Şâhiyâ
Söylemekde sırr-ı ‘ışkı biz yine lâl olmışuz

In English

1. Leaving goods and fortune behind, we have become content in the world; freed from the world's rancour and deceit, we have found peace of mind.

2. How should my heart not be pure like a mirror? Time and again we have been melted down and refined in the crucible of affliction.

3. O soul, since it saw your black hair the heart has become so bewildered that we have once again remained bewildered in the dervish lodge of your love.

4. From longing for your sunlike face my eye again sheds blood; for that reason we have become red all over with the blood of the heart.

5. O Şâhî, finding no one who understands the secret, we have again become mute in telling the secret of love.

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 "olmışuz" (we have become), and the rhyme is the "-âl" sound in the words "hoş-hâl, fârigü'l-bâl, kâl, al, lâl". Kılıç counts the redif "olmışuz" among the refrains of the divan. In the edition the folio mark 23a stands at the head of the ghazal.

The second line of the third couplet does not fit the rhyme scheme: the edition reads "Tekye-i 'ışkunda cânâ yine hayrân olmışuz", and "hayrân" both departs from the "-âl" rhyme and repeats the word "hayrân" of the first line of the same couplet. The word "abdâl" (dervish), which suits the setting of the lodge and completes the rhyme, occupies the same place in the metre as "hayrân"; the reading "Tekye-i 'ışkunda cânâ yine abdâl olmışuz" is possible. This proposal is our own, and the text has not been altered.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal opens in the language of a dervish who has withdrawn from the world: "raht u baht" (goods and fortune), two words separated by a single letter, are named together through their likeness of sound; both have been left behind, and freed from the world's rancour one has become "fârigü'l-bâl" (at peace in heart). In the second couplet the heart is like metal melted and refined in the crucible; afflictions have made it as pure as a mirror. The link between mirror and crucible is better understood when one recalls that old mirrors were made of metal. In the third couplet the expression "tekye-i 'ışk" (the dervish lodge of love) ties the language of Sufism to the beloved's hair: the hair is black and dishevelled, and the word "sevdâ" expresses both blackness and the madness of love.

In the fourth couplet the blood flowing from the eye dyes the lover red all over; the word "al" here means the colour red. The last couplet carries the subtlest wordplay of the ghazal: "lâl olmak" means to become mute, but "lâl" is at the same time the name of the precious red stone, the beloved's lip. When "al" (red) in the previous couplet and "lâl" in this couplet stand side by side, a congruence of colour (tenasüp) is formed. Keeping silent because no one understands the secret of love is also linked to the idea in the Sufi tradition that the secret must be told only to those worthy of it.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 76, ghazal no. 59 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 23a); also p. 29 (refrains), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources