Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Âteş-i hicrân ile bagrum kebâb oldı kebâb
Mihnet ü derd ile dil mülki harâb oldı harâb
Şerbet-i vaslunla cânâ derde dermân eylegil
Yohsa hasretle gözüm yaşı şarâb oldı şarâb
Şem’-veş odlar yakar başuma her dem ol nigâr
Yolına pervâne-veş yanmak savab oldı savab
İtlerümle hem-ser ol sen gitme dir bana habîb
Hamdü-li’llâh seg rakîbe hoş azâb oldı azâb
Gerd-i râhun kuhl idinmek hasretinden ey nigâr
Şâhî-i bî-çâre bu yolda türâb oldı türâb

In English

1. With the fire of separation my breast has become roast meat, roast meat; with grief and pain the realm of the heart has become a ruin, a ruin.

2. O beloved, cure my pain with the sherbet of union; otherwise, from longing, the tears of my eyes have become wine, wine.

3. That beauty, like a candle, lights fires on my head at every moment; to burn like a moth on her path has become a pious deed, a pious deed.

4. The beloved tells me, "Keep company with my dogs, do not go"; praise be to God, for the cur of a rival this has become a fine torment, a torment.

5. O beauty, longing to make the dust of your path collyrium for his eyes, helpless Şâhî has become dust on this road, dust.

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 and stands on folio 4a of the manuscript. The rhyme is the "-âb" sound in the words "kebâb, harâb, şarâb, savab, azâb, türâb"; the redif is the verb "oldı" (became). The real feature of the ghazal is that at the end of each line the rhyme word is repeated once more after the redif: "kebâb oldı kebâb", "harâb oldı harâb". This arrangement, based on the figure of repetition (tekrir), runs through both lines of the first couplet and the second lines of the following couplets, and gives the ghazal the music of a refrain. The pen name appears in the last couplet. In this ghazal the edition writes the word for "pious deed" without the circumflex, "savab"; in G.8 the same word appears as "savâb".

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet begins with the same image as the preceding ghazal: the fire of separation turns the breast to roast meat. In the second couplet sherbet and wine are set against each other. The sherbet of union is a cure for pain; if it cannot be reached, the tears turn to wine, that is, to blood. The third couplet treats the theme of the candle and the moth. The beloved, like a candle, lights fires on the lover's head; the double meaning between the flame burning on the candle's head and the idiom "to light fires on someone's head", meaning to bring trouble upon him, is our own observation. For the lover, to burn in this fire like a moth is a pious deed.

The fourth couplet rests on the theme of the beloved's dog in divan poetry. The beloved tells the lover, "Keep company with my dogs, do not go." For the lover, being placed together with the dogs at the door is a favour; the "cur of a rival", who envies him this closeness, suffers torment. The words "hamdü-li'llâh" (praise be to God) express with an ironic thanksgiving the poet's pleasure in the rival's torment. In the last couplet it is said that the poet, wishing to make the dust of the path collyrium (kuhl) for his eyes, has himself become dust through this desire. The congruence between dust and earth, and the way becoming earth also evokes death, give the couplet weight.

Of the rhyme words of the ghazal, "kebâb, şarâb, harâb, türâb" are used in the same circle of meaning in the next two ghazals (G.8, G.9) as well. This closeness suggests that the poet worked several times on the same ground; that G.8 is a response poem (nazire) to a ghazal by Ahmedî is recorded in Kılıç's footnote, while for this ghazal there is no such record. It is not known to whom or when it was written.

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. 7 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 4a); also p. 51 (G.8, footnote 87), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources