Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Âteş-i mihr-i ruhunla bagrumı kıldun kebâb
Hasret-i câm-ı lebünle eşkümi itdün şarâb
Gün yüzün üzre nigârâ zülfün efşân eyleme
Âfitâbun yüzini ‘âlemde dutmasun sehâb
Niçe yıldur vasl-ı cânânı temennâ eylerem
Tâli’ümde bir gün olmadı dirîgâ feth-i bâb
Hizmetünden dûr olaldan çeşm-i giryânum benüm
Seyle virdi ser-te-ser dünyâ yüzin kıldı harâb
Sormaz oldı hâlümi Şâhî o şâh-ı mülk-i hüsn
Bendesinden ‘âr ider var ise ol ‘âlî-cenâb

In English

1. With the fire of the sun (the love) of your cheek you have turned my breast to roast meat; with longing for the cup of your lips you have turned my tears to wine.

2. O beauty, do not scatter your locks over your sunlike face; let not the clouds veil the face of the sun in this world.

3. For how many years I have longed for union with the beloved; alas, not once has my fortune granted the opening of the door.

4. Since I was parted from your service my weeping eye has flooded the face of the world from end to end and laid it waste.

5. That king of the realm of beauty, Şâhî, no longer asks after me; that noble one, it seems, is ashamed of his servant.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal of five couplets is written in the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern. There is no redif; the rhyme is formed by the "-âb" sound in the words "kebâb, şarâb, sehâb, bâb, harâb, cenâb". The pen name appears in the last couplet. The ghazal stands on folio 3b of the manuscript. In the edition it is followed by three more ghazals (G.7, G.8, G.9) that use the same "-âb" rhyme and open with the image of the "roasted breast". That these four ghazals form a series around the same rhyme words is our own observation.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Kılıç sums up the main theme of Bayezid's poems in the words "separation, parting, severance, absence, longing, estrangement, ruin, weeping and fire", and cites the opening couplet of this ghazal as the first example of the frequency of longing and separation in the divan. The opening couplet is built on the picture of a drinking party: the fire of the beloved's cheek turns the lover's breast to roast meat (kebap), and the longing for the cup of her lips turns his tears to wine. The congruence of images (tenasüp) between kebap and wine transforms the pain of love into the fare of a banquet. The word "mihr" is used in both its senses, sun and love; the sun of the cheek is at the same time the love felt for the cheek.

In the second couplet the image of sun and cloud continues: the beloved's face is the sun, and the black hair scattered over it is the cloud that veils the sun. The poet asks the beloved not to let her hair fall over her face, so that the world may not be deprived of the sun. The third couplet uses the expression "feth-i bâb" (the opening of the door). In divan poetry the door is the beloved's threshold; for the lover who has waited years for union, fortune has not once opened it. The fourth couplet is a typical example of hyperbole (mübalağa): the lover's tears have flooded the face of the world and laid it waste.

In the last couplet the beloved is called "şâh-ı mülk-i hüsn" (king of the realm of beauty) and "'âlî-cenâb" (noble-hearted). The poet attributes the beloved's failure to ask after him to shame at his lowliness. The words "hizmet" (service) in the fourth couplet and "bende" (servant) in the last present love as a relation between master and servant. In Kılıç's introduction this ghazal is not mentioned among the poems written to the poet's father; and since addressing the beloved in the language of kingship is common in divan poetry, there is no ground for connecting the ghazal with Süleyman.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 50, ghazal no. 6 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 3b); also p. 31 (main theme, example G.6/1), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources