Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Gönül ‘izz-i huzûrundan cüdâ cânâ karâr itmez
Cihânun mâl ü mülkini tapunsuz ihtiyâr itmez
Başında gussadur üsküf ayagı hecr ile beste
Anunçün şâh-bâz-ı dil gezüp sayd u şikâr itmez
Siper çekdüm şekîb ü sabr gerçi tîg-i hicrâna
Dem olmaz kim yine zahmı geçüp çak câna kâr itmez
Dem olmaz hasret-i serv-i kadünle sahn-ı gülşende
Düşüp serv ayagına ben kulun bûs u kenâr itmez
Gam-ı devrân-ı hecr-i yârla bu Şâhî-i nâ-kâmun
Mükedderdür katı hâli nihâyet âşikâr itmez

In English

1. Beloved, the heart finds no rest when parted from your exalted presence; without you it does not choose or desire the wealth and possessions of the world.

2. On its head is a cap of grief and its foot is bound with separation; that is why the falcon of the heart does not roam and hunt its prey.

3. I drew the shield of patience and endurance against the sword of separation; still there is no moment when its wound does not pass through the shield, tear a gash and reach the soul.

4. There is no moment when, in the courtyard of the rose garden, longing for your cypress stature, I your servant do not fall at the cypress's foot to kiss and embrace it.

5. The state of this Şâhî, who has not attained his wish, is very troubled by the grief of time and of separation from the beloved, yet in the end he does not make it known.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal of five couplets is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün" pattern; in the edition the folio mark 24a stands at the end of the text. The redif (refrain word) is "itmez", and the rhyme is the "-âr" sound in the words "karâr, ihtiyâr, şikâr, kâr, kenâr, âşikâr". "İtmez" also appears in the list of refrains Kılıç gives for the divan. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet in the form "Şâhî-i nâ-kâm" (Şâhî who has not attained his wish). The edition gives no record of the person to whom the poem was addressed.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The most elaborate picture of the ghazal is in the second couplet. When a falcon is not hunting, its head is covered and its foot is tied; the poet likens his heart to such a falcon. The covering on its head is grief, the tie on its foot is separation, and so the falcon of the heart cannot go out to hunt. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) drawn from hunting among the words "üsküf" (cap), "ayak" (foot), "beste" (bound), "şâh-bâz" (falcon) and "sayd u şikâr" (prey and hunt); matching the cap with the hood used in falconry is our own reading.

The third couplet draws on the language of war: separation is a sword and patience a shield held against it, yet the sword passes the shield and reaches the soul at every moment. The word "çak" in the second line is printed in the edition without a length mark; if it is read as "çâk" (gash) the sense becomes clear. The fourth couplet identifies the beloved's stature with the cypress in the garden; the lover throws himself at the foot of the cypress and so shows his longing for the beloved. In the last couplet the poet says he hides the troubled state he is in; that he does not let it show although he is full of sorrow completes the grave tone of the ghazal.

The words "'izz-i huzûr" (exalted presence) and "tapunsuz" (without you) in the opening couplet also occur in the third murabba, which Kılıç says is addressed to the poet's father: there we find the lines "Varup 'izz-i huzûrunda" and "Tapunsuz gözüme zindân görinür mülk-i Yunanî". Not wanting the wealth and possessions of the world without you and seeing the land of Rum as a prison without you are two forms of the same expression. That the ghazal too may be read as addressed to the sultan on the basis of this similarity is our own inference. The poem contains no place, date or personal name, so the time of its composition cannot be determined.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 77, ghazal no. 61 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 24a); also p. 29 (list of refrains) and p. 34 (Mu.3, the lines with "'izz-i huzûr" and "tapunsuz"), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources