Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Kaçan derd ile âh itsem duhânumdan çıkar âteş
Şerâremden cihân mülkini ser-tâ-ser yakar âteş
Cehennem âteşinden yok durur bâküm benüm zâhid
Bana olup durur hicrân yedi tamu kadar âteş
Firâk-ı la’l-i nâbun hasretinden âh kim her dem
Yaşum Ceyhûn-veş akar bu sînemde yine âteş
Tagıtdı aklumı Tatar-ı zülfün târ-mâr itdi
Anunçün mülk-i câna dem-be-dem hecrün salar âteş
Gehî eşk ile gark eyler bu ‘âlem mülkini Şâhî
Gehî sûz-ı derûn ile dehânından çıkar âteş

In English

1. Whenever I sigh with pain, fire comes out of my smoke; from my sparks fire burns the realm of the world from end to end.

2. O ascetic, I have no fear of the fire of hell; separation has become for me as much fire as the seven hells.

3. From longing for your pure ruby lip, alas, every moment my tears flow like the Oxus; yet in this breast there is still fire.

4. The Tatar of your hair has scattered and plundered my mind; that is why separation sets fire to the realm of the soul at every moment.

5. Sometimes Şâhî drowns the realm of this world with his tears, sometimes fire comes out of his mouth from the burning within.

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 and carries the folio mark 26b in the edition. The redif (refrain) is "âteş" (fire), and the rhyme is the "-ar" sound in the words "çıkar, yakar, kadar, salar, çıkar". The word "çıkar" of the first line of the opening couplet becomes a rhyme again in the closing couplet. In the third couplet, however, the word before the refrain is "yine", and the rhyme scheme breaks in this line; the word "akar" in the middle of the line would fit the rhyme. Without touching the text, it should be noted that there may be a confusion of word order or a scribal error here; this is our own observation. "Âteş" appears in Kılıç's list of refrains.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is built on the opposition of water and fire. In the opening couplet the lover's sigh is a smoke, and the sparks that come from it are a blaze that burns the whole world. The second couplet addresses the ascetic: the ascetic frightens with the fire of hell, but for the lover separation is already as much fire as the seven hells. By naming "yedi tamu", the seven levels of hell, the exaggeration is tied to a number.

In the third couplet tears flow like the river Oxus (Ceyhun), but the fire in the breast still does not go out. The presence of water and fire together in the same body is an example of contrast (tezat). The fourth couplet uses the language of war and plunder: the beloved's hair is a Tatar raider; it has scattered and plundered the mind, and separation has then set the realm of the soul on fire. The link between Tatar and black hair comes from the dark colour of the hair and the fame of the Tatars for their raids; the words "târ-mâr" (scattered) and "mülk-i cân" (realm of the soul) complete this picture.

The last couplet ends with a contrast that sums up the ghazal: Şâhî sometimes drowns the world in tears, sometimes pours fire from his mouth with the burning within. The structure "gehî ... gehî" (sometimes ... sometimes) sets the two opposite states side by side in balance. The repetition of the words "mülk", "cihân mülki", "âlem mülki" and "mülk-i cân" spreads throughout the ghazal the idea that love burns and lays waste the lover like a country. There is no information about to whom or on what occasion the ghazal 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. 81, ghazal no. 70 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 26b); also p. 29 (list of refrains), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources