Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün
Her zemân ol bî-vefâdan bir cefâ eksük degül
Cânda gam dilde elem başda belâ eksük degül
Hîç bilmem n’eyleyem yâ Rab ‘acebdür tâli’üm
Her yanadan göresin bir iftirâ eksük degül
Çarh-ı kej-reftâr elinden bu belâ-keş cânuma
Âh kim endûh u gam zecr ü ‘anâ eksük degül
Âşiyân-ı tende murg-ı câna her subh u mesâ
Pâdişâhum hûn-ı hecründen gıdâ eksük degül
Rûz u şeb dergâhuna tuhfe bu Şâhî bendeden
İzdiyâd-ı devlet ü gamda du’â eksük degül
Şâh-ı iklîm-i keremsin koma elden lutfı kim
Bu meseldür her zemân kuldan hatâ eksük degül
In English
1. From that faithless one a cruelty is never lacking; grief in the soul, sorrow in the heart, calamity on the head are never lacking.
2. O Lord, I do not know at all what to do, my fortune is strange; you will see that from every side a slander is never lacking.
3. Alas, because of the crookedly turning sphere, sadness, grief, rebuke and toil are never lacking for this calamity-bearing soul of mine.
4. My padishah, for the bird of the soul in the nest of the body, every morning and evening, food from the blood of separation from you is never lacking.
5. Day and night, as a gift to your court from this servant Şâhî, prayer for the increase of your fortune, even in grief, is never lacking.
6. You are the shah of the realm of generosity; do not let go of kindness, for this is a proverb: error is never lacking in a servant.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The ghazal of six couplets is written in the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern, and in the edition the folio mark 31b stands at the end of the second couplet. The redif (refrain) is "eksük degül" (is never lacking), and the rhyme is the "-â" sound in the words "cefâ, belâ, iftirâ, 'anâ, gıdâ, du'â, hatâ". "Degül" appears in Kılıç's list of refrains. The pen name appears in the fifth couplet; the sixth couplet comes after the couplet with the pen name. Kılıç quotes the ghazal in full in the introduction; the reference "G84" in the introduction is the same as the number in the text.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The refrain "eksük degül" (is never lacking) expresses in each couplet of the ghazal that a hardship has become constant: cruelty from the faithless one, slander from every side, grief from the sphere, blood from separation, prayer and error from the servant are never lacking. The second line of the opening couplet matches three organs with three pains: "grief in the soul, sorrow in the heart, calamity on the head". In the third couplet the sphere is described as "kej-reftâr" (going crookedly); complaint against the sphere is a well-known subject of divan poetry. In the fourth couplet the body is likened to a bird's nest and the soul to the bird in this nest; the bird's food is the blood of separation.
In the last two couplets the address turns clearly to a ruler. In the fifth couplet Şâhî calls himself "bende" (servant) and says that day and night he offers to the "dergâh", that is, the ruler's door, prayer for the increase of his fortune. In the sixth couplet the addressee is called "şâh-ı iklîm-i kerem" (the shah of the realm of generosity), and he is asked not to let go of kindness, with a reminder of the proverb "error is never lacking in a servant".
Historical Context
Kılıç mentions this ghazal among the poems addressed to the poet's father and describes it as a ghazal "written in a state of mind expecting forgiveness, stressing that there is no servant without fault and that he has been slandered"; he adds that what befell him is counted as the fault of the sphere bent double. The last couplet of the ghazal carries the same thought as the words "Kulun işi daim hatadır, kerîm işi dâim lutf u keremdir" (the servant's work is always error, the generous one's work is always kindness and generosity) in the letters Bayezid wrote to his father a few years after the affair of the False Mustafa, which Kılıç quotes in the introduction. In the afnâme (plea for pardon) in murabba form, which is not found in the divan and which he wrote to his father, the line "Bu meseldür söylenür kim 'kul günâh itse n'ola'" also occurs. These two similarities are our own observation. The date of composition of the ghazal is not known, nor can it be deduced from the poem to which event the word slander in the second couplet points.
Bibliography
- Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 87, ghazal no. 84 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 31b); also p. 8 (Bayezid's letters to his father), p. 29 (list of refrains), p. 35 (the full ghazal and its interpretation) and pp. 37-38 (the afnâme), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.
Online sources
