Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün
Vuslatunla bendeni şâd ol ki mesrûr eyledün
Bu dil-i vîrânemi âbâd u mes’ûd eyledün
Müstedâm ol lutf idüp yine bu giryân gözlerüm
Hâk-i pây-ı kuhl-ı âsitânunla pür-nûr eyledün
Devlet ü ikbâl ile ‘âlemde var ol kim benüm
Cânumı derd ü belâ-yı hecrden dûr eyledün
Çeşm-i sehhâr-ı dil-âvîzünle ey âfet benüm
Gönlümi ser-geşte vü hayrân u meshûr eyledün
Şol kadar sundun şarâb-ı nâz çeşm-i mestüne
‘Âkıbet gamzen gibi kattâl u hûn-hâr eyledün
Dest-gîr ol bendene çün kim her ednâ bendenün
Kimini hâkân idüp kimini fagfûr eyledün
Nâr-ı fürkatde dil-i mahzûnumı biryân idüp
Bezm-i gamda eşk-i çeşmüm âb-ı engûr eyledün
Yiter ey rûh-ı revânum Şâhî-i bî-çâreyi
Hizmetünden dûr idüp mahzûn u mehcûr eyledün
In English
1. With union you have gladdened and delighted your servant; be glad yourself; you have made this ruined heart of mine prosperous and happy.
2. May you live long; graciously you have again filled these weeping eyes of mine with light, making the dust of your threshold their kohl.
3. May you live in the world with fortune and prosperity, for you have kept my soul far from the pain and calamity of separation.
4. O enchanting beauty, with your bewitching, heart-captivating eye you have made my heart dizzy, bewildered and spellbound.
5. You offered so much wine of coquetry to your drunken eye that in the end you made it, like your glance, murderous and bloodthirsty.
6. Take your servant by the hand, for you have made some of the humblest of your servants khagans and some emperors of China.
7. Roasting my sorrowful heart in the fire of separation, at the feast of grief you have turned the tears of my eye into the juice of the grape.
8. Enough, O my flowing soul; you have kept the helpless Şâhî far from your service and left him sorrowful and forsaken.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The ghazal of eight couplets is written in the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern, and in the edition the folio mark 30b stands at the end of the fifth couplet. The redif (refrain) is "eyledün" (you have made), and the basis of the rhyme is the "-ûr" sound in the words "mesrûr, pür-nûr, dûr, meshûr, fagfûr, engûr, mehcûr". "Mes'ûd" in the second line of the opening couplet and "hûn-hâr" in the fifth couplet do not fit this sound; the rhyme breaks at these two places. "Âbâd u ma'mûr" (prosperous and flourishing) is a pairing often met in the language of divan poetry, and reading "ma'mûr" in place of "mes'ûd" in the opening couplet would correct the rhyme; this suggested reading is ours, and the text has not been touched. The pen name appears in the last couplet.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The ghazal proceeds in two parts. The first three couplets carry the joy of union and prayers: the beloved has gladdened the lover with union, the dust of his threshold has become kohl for the lover's eye, and the lover prays for him with "müstedâm ol" (may you live long) and "devlet ü ikbâl ile 'âlemde var ol" (may you live in the world with fortune and prosperity). Using the dust of the threshold as kohl for the eye is a well-known image expressing rubbing one's face at the door of a great person. The fourth and fifth couplets describe the beloved's enchanting and bloodthirsty eye. In the last three couplets separation returns: the heart is roasted in the fire of separation, tears turn into wine, and in the end Şâhî is kept far "from your service".
The sixth couplet gives the beloved the power of a ruler: he has made some of the humblest of his servants khagans and some "fagfûr", that is, emperors of China. This couplet and the prayers suggest that the ghazal is directed at a ruler rather than a beloved. In the seventh couplet the words "biryân" (roast) and "âb-ı engûr" (grape juice, wine) carry two elements of the drinking party into the feast of grief.
Historical Context
The phrase "Hizmetünden dûr idüp" (keeping far from your service) in the last couplet is the same as the expression "Hizmetinde Şâhîyi dûr eyleyüp nâ-kâm iden / Pâdişâhum" in the last couplet of the ghazal with the refrain "hoş mıdur", which Kılıç presents as the poem in which the poet asks after his father; that ghazal stands at number 27 in the text and is cited in the introduction as "G28". The prayer "müstedâm ol" in the second couplet is the same as the prayer addressed to the padishah in the closing couplet of ghazal 80. The words "her ednâ bendenün" (each of your humblest servants) in the sixth couplet also recall the line "Bende-i ednân olsam hizmetünde" in the second ghazal, which is dedicated to Süleyman the Magnificent. On the basis of these similarities it may be thought that the ghazal was written to the father, that the union refers to a meeting and the distancing in the last couplet to being kept far from his service. This reading is ours; there is no name or date in the ghazal, and which meeting is meant is not known.
Bibliography
- Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 85-86, ghazal no. 81 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 30b); also p. 33 (the ghazal with the refrain "hoş mıdur" written to his father, "G28") and p. 36 (dedication of the second ghazal to Süleyman), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.
Online sources
