Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Dirîgâ câna kâr itdi cigerden yarası ‘ışkun
Tabîbâ ko müdâvâyı ki olmaz çâresi ‘ışkun
N’ola mest ü harâb olsam elümden câm-ı gam düşmez
Bu gün bezm-i mahabbetde menem mey-hâresi ‘ışkun
Cihânun kâr u bârından ben el yudum etek silkdüm
Benem ad ile ‘âlemde bu gün âvâresi ‘ışkun
Onulmaz derd imiş derdüm halâs olmak mı var andan
Eger kim vasl-ı dil-berse tabîbâ çâresi ‘ışkun
Nice takat getürsün bu vücûd-ı cism-i Şâhî kim
Tecellî kılsa âfâkı yakar bir pâresi ‘ışkun

In English

1. Alas, the wound of love has passed from the liver and reached the soul; O physician, leave off treatment, for there is no cure for love.

2. Is it a wonder if I become drunk and ruined? The cup of grief never falls from my hand; today at the feast of affection I am love's wine-drinker.

3. I have washed my hands of the business of the world and shaken off my skirt; today in the world I am, in name and fame, love's vagabond.

4. My pain has proved to be a pain that does not heal; is there any escape from it? O physician, if love has any cure, it is union with the beloved.

5. How could the being of Şâhî's body bear it, when if a single piece of love were to manifest itself, it would burn the horizons?

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 29b in the edition. The redif (refrain) is "-esi 'ışkun" (of love), and the rhyme is the "-âre" sound in the words "yara, çâre, mey-hâre, âvâre, çâre, pâre". The word "çâresi" is rhymed twice, in the opening and in the fourth couplet. "'Işkun" appears in Kılıç's list of refrains. The pen name appears in the last couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Kılıç mentions this ghazal as a poem that follows the ghazal with the refrain "'ışk" immediately before it in the divan and in which "it is possible to find traces of mystical love"; he says it is especially the last couplet that leads to this thought. The first four couplets of the ghazal move around sickness, wine and vagrancy. The opening and the fourth couplets address the physician: the wound of love has passed from the liver to the soul and has no cure; if it has a cure, it is union with the beloved. The address "tabîbâ" (O physician) and the rhyme "çâresi" (its cure) in the two couplets bind them together.

The second couplet shows the lover as the wine-drinker of the feast of love: the cup of grief never falls from his hand, and that is why he is drunk and ruined. In the third couplet the idioms "el yumak" (to wash one's hands) and "etek silkmek" (to shake off one's skirt) express renouncing the world; both mean withdrawing entirely from a matter. The lover has withdrawn his hand from the business of the world and, in name and fame, has become love's vagabond.

The last couplet changes the weight of meaning of the ghazal with the word "tecellî" (manifestation). If only a single piece of love were to appear, it would burn all the horizons; how could Şâhî's body bear it? In Sufism, tecelli means the appearing of the divine. In the Qur'an, verse 143 of the sura al-A'râf tells how the Lord manifested himself to the mountain and the mountain crumbled to pieces; that the words "tecellî", "yakar" (burns) and "pâre" (piece) in the couplet recall this story is our own reading. Kılıç's interpretation of mystical love also rests on this couplet. At the same time, since the other couplets of the ghazal speak of union with the beloved and of the gathering, the poem can be read in two directions, between human and divine love.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 85, ghazal no. 79 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 29b); also p. 29 (list of refrains) and p. 41 (the last couplet, mystical love), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources