Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün
‘Işk derler adına ‘Ankâ mekânıdur gönül
Ol Hümâ-yı lâ-mekânun âşiyânıdur gönül
Pertevinden gâh olur ‘âlem yüzi tâbân olur
Feyz u ilhâm âfitâbı âsumânıdur gönül
‘Ârızı üstinde cânânun bu hâl-i ‘anberîn
Rûma gelmiş tuhfe-i Hindûstanîdür gönül
N’ola beslerse hayâl-i serv-i kaddün sînede
Merdüm-i dîdem o bâgun bâg-bânıdur gönül
Gün yüzinde nokta-i mevhûma benzer didigün
Zerre denlü olmasun şekkün dehânıdur gönül
Tâ ezelden ey kemân-ebrû miyân-ı sînede
Mihnet ü derd ü kazâ okı nişânıdur gönül
Rişte-i gamzemde lü’lü’-i sirişkümle yüzüm
Çâr-sû-yı ‘ışkda cevher dükânıdur gönül
Dem-be-dem Gül-gûn-ı eşki şevk ile Hüsrev-misâl
Sîne kûhına salan Şîrîn zebânıdur gönül
Nâmı var lîkin nişânın kimse görmiş yok diyü
Düşerin anca hayâle mû-miyânîdur gönül
Gûş-ı âfâkı dür-i nazmıyle tezyîn eyledi
Tab’-ı Şâhî var ise bahr-i me’ânîdür gönül
Bî-bekâ mülkiyle böyle kibr ü istignâ nedür
Tâc u taht u saltanat aldanma fânîdür gönül
In English
1. The homeland of the 'Anqâ bird named love is the heart; the nest of that placeless Hümâ bird is the heart.
2. From its radiance the face of the world sometimes shines; the sky of the sun of grace and inspiration is the heart.
3. This ambergris-scented mole on the beloved's cheek is a gift from India come to Rûm; (what bears it) is the heart.
4. Is it any wonder if the heart nurses in the breast the image of your cypress stature? The pupil of my eye is the gardener of that garden; (the garden itself) is the heart.
5. What you call "like an imaginary dot" on your sunlike face, have not a mote of doubt, (that place) is the mouth; (what knows it) is the heart.
6. O you with bow-shaped brows, since pre-eternity the target of the arrow of affliction, pain and fate in the midst of the breast is the heart.
7. With the pearls of my tears on the thread of my lashes, my face is a jewel shop in the market of love; (that shop) is the heart.
8. The one who, like Hüsrev, ardently sets the rose-coloured steed of tears galloping at every moment onto the mountain of the breast, Şîrîn-tongued, is the heart.
9. What falls only into imagination, so that it is said, "it has a name, but no one has seen its trace", the hair-thin waist (of the beloved), is the heart.
10. The poetic gift of Şâhî has adorned the ear of the horizons with the pearls of his verse; (their source) is the heart, the sea of meanings.
11. What is this pride and self-sufficiency over a possession without permanence? Do not be deceived by crown, throne and sovereignty, O heart; they are transient.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The ghazal of eleven couplets is written in the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern. The redif is "-dur gönül" (is the heart), and the rhyme is the "-ânî" sound in the words "mekânı, âşiyânı, âsumânı, Hindûstanî, bâg-bânı, dehânı, nişânı, dükânı, zebânı, mû-miyânî, me'ânî, fânî". Kılıç counts "gönül" among the refrains of the divan. In the edition the folio mark 32b stands at the end of the opening couplet and the folio mark 33a at the end of the tenth couplet.
The pen name is in the tenth couplet; the eleventh couplet comes after the pen name as a separate piece of advice. In this last couplet the function of the word "gönül" also changes: in the earlier couplets the redif forms a predicate, "gönüldür" (is the heart), while in the last line "gönül" becomes an address (do not be deceived, O heart).
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The ghazal consists of successive definitions of what the heart is. In the opening couplet love is likened to the 'Anqâ, a bird that has a name but is itself never seen, and the heart to its homeland. The Hümâ too is a placeless bird of fortune, one that never alights anywhere. These two legendary birds express the invisible and ungraspable nature of love. The ninth couplet applies the same idea to the beloved's waist: it too is so slender that one may say "it has a name but no trace". Thus a link is made between the beginning and the end of the ghazal through the 'Anqâ's quality of "having a name but no existence".
In the third couplet the beloved's black mole is a gift from India brought to Rûm; the familiar association between India and blackness explains the colour of the mole. In the fifth couplet the mouth is a "nokta-i mevhûm", a dot whose existence is known only through imagination. In the seventh couplet the lash is a thread, the tear a pearl, the face a jewel shop. The eighth couplet rests on the story of Hüsrev and Şîrîn: "Gül-gûn" evokes both the rose-coloured tears and the name of the horse in the story, while "kûh" (mountain) recalls Ferhâd's cutting through the mountain. In the tenth couplet the poet praises his own poetry as pearls hung in the ear of the horizons; Kılıç notes that the few couplets in which Şâhî praises his own poetry are also free of exaggeration.
Historical Context
When describing the couplets of advice in the divan, Kılıç cites the last couplet of this ghazal as an example on the transience of the world and on not trusting crown, throne and sovereignty; in the introduction the couplet is cited as "G87/11", and here the number in the introduction is the same as that in the text. This couplet on the transience of sovereignty acquires a particular meaning in the divan of a prince who was defeated in the struggle for the throne and forced to leave his country. However, it is not known in which period the couplet was written, and this association is our own assessment.
Bibliography
- Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 88-89, ghazal no. 87 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fols. 32b-33a); also p. 29 (refrains), pp. 12-13 (defeat at Konya and flight to Iran), p. 41 (quotation of the last couplet in the introduction as "G87/11" among the couplets of advice) and p. 42 (couplets in which the poet praises his own poetry), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.
Online sources
