Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün

‘Ârızun üstinde cânâ hatt u hâl
Hoş yaratmışdur o kâdir ber-kemâl
Var yok agzundan alduk biz haber
Lîk anca bilüne irmez hayâl
Seyr idüp gülşende serv-i kaddüni
Hayretinden vecde vardı ehl-i hâl
Gülsitân-ı hüsn içinde gülşen ol
İrmesün dâmânuna bâd-ı zevâl
Kısmetün Şâhî cefâdur çek yüri
Yârdan mihr ü vefâ ne ihtimâl

In English

1. O soul, how beautifully, how flawlessly that Almighty (God) has created the down and the mole upon your cheek.

2. We have had news of whether your mouth exists or not, but imagination can never reach your waist.

3. Watching your cypress stature in the rose garden, the people of spiritual states fell into ecstasy from amazement.

4. Be a rose bed within the rose garden of beauty; may the wind of decline never reach your skirt.

5. Şâhî, your lot is cruelty; go on, bear it. What chance is there of love and faithfulness from the beloved.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The five-couplet ghazal is written in "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün", the short pattern of the remel metre. According to the list of metres in Kılıç's introduction, this short pattern is used in eleven Turkish ghazals of the divan; the fiftieth ghazal is also in this pattern. It has no redif; the rhyme is the "-âl" sound in the words "hâl, kemâl, hayâl, hâl, zevâl, ihtimâl". In the edition the ghazal falls on folio 32a. The short lines give the ghazal a quicker and plainer diction than the preceding poems in longer patterns.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In the opening couplet "hatt u hâl", the down and the mole on the cheek, are among the best-known marks of beauty in divan poetry. The poet praises them as the work of "o kâdir ber-kemâl", that is, the flawless Creator; thus the praise of beauty is tied to praise offered to the Creator. This view, which sees the beautiful face as a reflection of the Creator's art, is a path often taken in divan poetry when describing the beloved, and it gives the couplet a simple air of praise to God (hamd). The word "hâl" (mole) of the opening couplet rhymes again in the third couplet in the phrase "ehl-i hâl"; there "hâl" has the Sufi sense of spiritual state. The entry of the same word into the rhyme with two different meanings is an instance of cinas (paronomasia).

The second couplet combines two refinements often treated in divan poetry: the beloved's mouth is so small that it is unclear whether it exists at all, and her waist so slender that not even imagination can reach it. The expression "var yok" also occurs in another ghazal of the divan ("Var yok agzuna düşmez"). In the third couplet the swaying of the cypress stature in the rose garden brings the people of Sufism to ecstasy. The fourth couplet is a prayer: may the beloved stay always in bloom in the garden of beauty, may the autumn wind, that is, decline, never reach her skirt. The words "gülsitân" and "gülşen" and the phrase "bâd-ı zevâl" complete the same image of the garden. The last couplet ends with a brief acceptance: the lover's lot is cruelty, and to expect faithfulness from the beloved is in vain. The phrase "çek yüri" (go on, bear it) carries the plainness of spoken language into the line.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 88, ghazal no. 86 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 32a), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources