Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Olalı gözden ırag ol gonce-i handânumuz
Eksük olmaz oldı bülbül gibi âh efgânumuz
Murg-ı cânı her zemân tîrün nişân idüp senün
Ey kaşı yâ nice bir yüzine çalar kanumuz
Levh-i sînem üzre gûyâ sûre-i İhlâsdur
Safha-i ruhsârın üstinde hat-ı cânânumuz
Mîr-i iklîm-i fenâyuz kapumuzda rûz u şeb
Mihnet ü derd ü belâdur ‘asker ü derbânumuz
Cânı sermâye kılan gelsün metâ’-ı derd ile
Hâce-i bâzâr-ı ‘ışkuz tolıdur dükkânumuz
Ey gönül ney ki günâhun çok zemândur şâd idüp
Anmaz oldı bendesini lutf ile sultânumuz
Mû-miyân-ı dil-beri koçmak hevâsında bu gün
Kılca kaldı çıkmaga Şâhî bedenden cânumuz

In English

1. Ever since that laughing rosebud (our beloved) went far from our eyes, our sighs and laments, like the nightingale's, have never ceased.

2. O you whose brow is a bow, as you make the bird of our soul the target of your arrow at every moment, how long will our blood splash onto your face?

3. The down on the page of our beloved's cheek is, as it were, the sura of Ihlâs written on the tablet of my breast.

4. We are the lord of the land of nothingness; at our door, day and night, hardship, pain and calamity are our soldiers and gatekeeper.

5. Let him who makes his soul his capital come with the goods of pain; we are a merchant of the market of love, and our shop is full.

6. O heart, what is your sin, that for a long time now our sultan has ceased to remember this servant with grace and make him glad?

7. Today, Şâhî, in the desire to embrace the beloved with a waist as thin as a hair, our soul has come within a hair's breadth of leaving the body.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal of seven couplets is written in the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern. There is no folio mark in this ghazal in the edition; since it follows the 24a mark at the end of the preceding ghazal, it is understood to stand on the same folio. The redif (refrain) is the suffix "-umuz" (our), and the rhyme is built on the "-ân" sound in the words "handân, efgân, kan, cânân, derbân, dükkân, sultân, cân". The pen name appears in the last couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal speaks with "we" in place of the first person singular, and this voice gives the poem a sovereign air. In the fourth couplet the poet presents himself as "mîr-i iklîm-i fenâ", the lord of the land of nothingness. At the door of a provincial governor stand soldiers and a gatekeeper; at the door of this lord, hardship, pain and calamity keep watch. The same construction appears in the second ghazal of the divan as "Mîr-i iklîm-i Karaman"; there the prince mentions the governorship of Karaman, here he moves the governorship into the land of nothingness. This comparison is our own observation. The fifth couplet likewise uses the language of trade: the shop of the lover, a merchant in the market of love, is full of pain, and only one who makes his soul his capital can buy these goods.

The third couplet is built on the word "hat". Hat is both writing and the down on the cheek; the cheek is likened to a page, the lover's breast to a tablet, and the down on the beloved's cheek becomes the sura of Ihlâs written on the lover's breast. Since "ihlâs" means both the name of the sura and sincerity, there is a double entendre (tevriye) in the couplet. In the second couplet the arrows of the beloved "kaşı yâ" (whose brow is a bow) strike the bird of the soul, and the lover's blood splashes onto the beloved's face; the idiom "yüzüne çalmak" also brings to mind its sense of reproaching someone. In the last couplet there is wordplay between "mû-miyân" (hair-thin waist) and "kılca kalmak" (to come within a hair's breadth).

Historical Context

The sixth couplet complains that the sultan has not remembered his servant for a long time. Among the examples carrying the voice of a son waiting for a letter from his father, Kılıç gives in the introduction, under the reference "G56/1", the couplet "Bilmezem ben bendesin şâhum niçün yâd eylemez / Bir varak-nâmeyle çokdandur anup şâd eylemez"; in the text this couplet is the opening of the fifty-fifth ghazal. The closeness between "çokdandur anup şâd eylemez" and "çok zemândur şâd idüp anmaz oldı" is evident. That the sixth couplet may therefore also be addressed to Süleyman the Magnificent is our own reading; the ghazal contains no name or date that would confirm it.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 77-78, ghazal no. 62 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 24a); also p. 32 (poems written to his father, "G56/1"), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources