Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Tagılaldan kâkülün ruhsârun üzre her taraf
Toldı sünbül ‘ârız-ı gülzârun üzre her taraf
Bâl açmış sanki tûtîdür diyâr-ı Rûmda
Hatt-ı sebzi ‘ârız-ı dil-dârun üzre her taraf
San dıraht-ı ergavândur suya salmış sâyesin
‘Anber-efşân zülf-i rûy-ı yârun üzre her taraf
Dûd-ı âhun hod ne gam ey dil güneşden sakınup
Sâyebân olup gider ol yârun üzre her taraf
Görinen dâg-ı gam-ı dil-dâr-ı Şâhî gûyiyâ
Lâlelerdür sîne-i kûhsârun üzre her taraf

In English

1. Ever since your forelock scattered over your cheek on every side, your rose-garden cheek has filled with hyacinth on every side.

2. The green down appearing on every side over the beloved's cheek is as if a parrot had spread its wings in the land of Rum.

3. The ambergris-scattering hair on every side over the beloved's face is as if a Judas tree had cast its shadow on the water.

4. O heart, do not grieve at all over the smoke of your sigh; guarding against the sun, it goes as a canopy over that beloved on every side.

5. The brands of Şâhî's grief for the beloved that appear are as if they were tulips on every side over the breast of the mountain.

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. It carries no folio mark in the edition; it stands after the 28a mark at the end of the second couplet of the preceding ghazal. The redif (refrain) is "üzre her taraf" (over, on every side), and the rhyme is the "-âr" sound in the words "ruhsâr, gülzâr, dil-dâr, yâr, yâr, kûhsâr", to which the possessive suffix "-un" is added. Kılıç's list of refrains includes "her taraf" and "üzre", used in two ghazals. In the third and fourth couplets the word "yâr" (beloved) is rhymed twice, with no difference of meaning between the two uses. The pen name appears in the last couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is a ghazal of description, and each couplet likens a feature of the beloved's face to images of the garden and of nature. In the opening couplet the forelock scattered over the cheek is hyacinth filling a rose garden; the likeness between black hair and dark hyacinth, cheek and rose, are well-known images. In the second couplet the green down on the cheek is likened to a parrot that has spread its wings, and the parrot is shown in "diyâr-ı Rûm", the land of Rum. In divan poetry Rum evokes whiteness and India blackness; the parrot, too, is known to come from India. Thinking of the white cheek as Rum and the green down as a parrot that has alighted there rests on these associations. This explanation is our own reading; in the third couplet of ghazal 87 too, the mole on the cheek is called "Rûma gelmiş tuhfe-i Hindûstânî" (a gift from India come to Rum).

In the third couplet the ambergris-scented hair is likened to a Judas tree casting its shadow on water: the bright face is the water, and the hair is the dark shadow falling upon it. The fourth couplet rests on a subtle conceit: the smoke rising from the lover's sigh goes up and turns into a canopy protecting the beloved from the sun. The lover's pain becomes a service to the beloved. In the last couplet the brands on the lover's breast are likened to tulips blooming on every side of a mountain slope; this comparison comes from the same ground as the image of the tulip brand in the opening couplet of ghazal 74.

The refrain "her taraf" (on every side) expresses in each couplet that something spreads and covers its surroundings, and it gives breadth to the descriptions of the ghazal: hyacinth surrounds the cheek, down the face, shadow the water, smoke the beloved, tulips the mountain on every side. There is no sign of a person, place or date in the ghazal; "diyâr-ı Rûm" is used as a poetic image.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 83, ghazal no. 75 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 28a); also p. 29 (list of refrains), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources