Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Fe’ûlün

Cihânı geşt idüp bir bir araduk
Dirîgâ bulmaduk bir yâr-ı sâdık
Göresin âhir ol sâdık geçenler
Kimi kâzib çıkar kimi münâfık
Gürisne seg gibi cîfe cihân çün
Biri birine diş biler halâyık
Ta’alluk riştesin kat’ it cihândan
Ki pâ-bend-i dil ü cândur ‘alâyık
Ko halkı sen senün şânuna n’eyse
Anı işle ki Şâhî ola lâyık

In English

1. Travelling through the world we searched one by one; alas, we did not find a faithful friend.

2. In the end you will see that of those who passed for faithful, some turn out liars and some hypocrites.

3. Since the world is carrion, people bare their teeth at one another like hungry dogs.

4. Cut the thread of attachment to the world, for attachments are the fetters of heart and soul.

5. Leave the people; do whatever befits your dignity, so that Şâhî may be worthy.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal of five couplets is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün fe'ûlün" pattern and carries the folio mark 28b in the edition. There is no redif; the rhyme is built on the "-ık" sound in the words "sâdık, münâfık, halâyık, 'alâyık, lâyık". All the rhyme words are of Arabic origin. The closeness of sound between "halâyık" (people, mankind) and "'alâyık" (ties, attachments) is striking. The pen name appears in the last couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

There is no beloved in this ghazal. From beginning to end the poem is a ghazal of wisdom that complains of the world and of people and gives counsel. Kılıç notes that the divan contains couplets of counsel on the transience of the world, on not becoming attached to it and on not trusting crown, throne and sovereignty, and he gives as examples the last two couplets of ghazal 9 and the last couplet of ghazal 87. This ghazal belongs wholly to that kind; this classification is ours.

The opening couplet says that the world was travelled from end to end and no faithful friend was found. The second couplet unfolds this: of those known as faithful, some turn out liars and some hypocrites. The third couplet carries the harshest comparison of the ghazal: the world is carrion, and people bare their teeth at one another like hungry dogs swarming upon it. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among carrion and dog, baring the teeth and hunger. The fourth couplet counsels cutting the thread of attachment; the words "rişte" (thread), "kat'" (cutting) and "pâ-bend" (fetter) turn the idea of attachment and release into a concrete picture.

The closing couplet ends with a counsel: one must leave people and do what befits one's own dignity, so that Şâhî too may be worthy. In this couplet the poet addresses himself; the passage between "senün şânun" (your dignity) and "Şâhî" lets the counsel turn both to the reader and to the poet himself. The last couplet of ghazal 77, which follows immediately in the edition, takes up the same subject: there the faithful friend is likened to the Ankâ (the phoenix-like bird), which has a name but no body. The link between the two ghazals through the theme of the faithful friend is our own observation. There is no sign showing a connection of the ghazal with an event or a person; there is no basis in the poem for tying the complaint about faithless friends to a particular period of the poet's life.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 83-84, ghazal no. 76 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 28b); also p. 41 (couplets of counsel on the transience of the world), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources