Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Bahârum sohbetüm subhum dahı şem’-i şebistânum
Kamer-çihrem yüzi bedrüm felekde mâh-ı tâbânum
Habîbüm gülşenüm huldum cemâli cennet-i ‘Adnüm
‘Azîzüm hem-demüm varum gönül tahtında sultânum
Müdâmum sâgarum nuklum dahı nârenc ü turuncum
Şarâbum işretüm bezmüm nebâtum sükkeristânum
Merâmum tâze gülzârum riyâzum dürr-i şehvârum
Çenârum serv-i şimşâdum nihâlüm verd-i handânum
Nehârum enverüm bedrüm tulû’um tâli’üm devrüm
Fürûgum neyyirüm şem’üm felek devrinde Keyvânum
Dil-âbendüm (?) dil-âvîzüm ser-efgendüm ser-efrâzum
Nihâlüm gülbün-i nâzum benüm serv-i hırâmânum
Sabâhum sohbetüm bezmüm dahı nâr ile nârencüm
‘Abîrüm ‘anberüm bûyum gülistân ile bûstânum
Bedehşânum u Kıfçagum diyâr-ı Çîn ü Mâçînüm
Semerkandum u Bagdâdum u Şîrâzum Horâsânum
Getürdi cânını Şâhî kabûl eyle anı şâhum
Ki bir mûr-ı za’îfündür eyâ şâh-ı Süleymânum

In English

1. My spring, my companionship, my morning, and the candle of my night chamber; my moon-faced one, whose face is my full moon, my shining moon in the sky.

2. My beloved, my rose garden, my paradise, whose beauty is my Garden of Eden; my dear one, my confidant, my all, the sultan on the throne of my heart.

3. My wine, my cup, my snack with the wine, and also my bitter orange and my citron; my drink, my revelry, my feast, my sugar candy, my land of sugar.

4. My desire, my fresh rose garden, my gardens, my royal pearl; my plane tree, my boxwood cypress, my sapling, my smiling rose.

5. My daytime, my brightest light, my full moon, my rising, my fortune, my age; my radiance, my shining star, my candle, my Saturn in the turning of the sky.

6. My heart-binder, my heart-catcher, the one whose head is bowed and the one whose head is raised high; my sapling, my rosebush of disdain, my swaying cypress.

7. My morning, my companionship, my feast, and also my pomegranate and my bitter orange; my ambergris blend, my ambergris, my scent, my rose garden and my orchard.

8. My Badakhshan and my Kipchak, my land of China and Machin; my Samarkand, my Baghdad, my Shiraz, my Khorasan.

9. Şâhî has brought his soul, accept it, my shah; for he is your feeble ant, O my shah Süleyman.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The nine-couplet ghazal is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün" pattern. The rhyme is the "-ân" sound in "şebistân, tâbân, sultân, sükkeristân, handân, Keyvân, hırâmân, bûstân, Horâsân, Süleymân", and the redif (refrain word) is the suffix "-um" (my) added to them. It shares metre and rhyme with ghazal 94, which immediately precedes it in the edition; the phrases "şem'-i şebistânum" (candle of my night chamber) and "serv-i hırâmânum" (my swaying cypress) occur in both ghazals. Kılıç has placed "(?)" next to the reading "Dil-âbendüm" at the beginning of the sixth couplet, meaning that the reading is not certain. In the edition the folio mark 35b stands at the end of the third couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is a catalogue poem from beginning to end. Almost every line consists of four or five nouns with the suffix "-um": seasons and times of day, heavenly bodies, paradises, feast and drink, fruits, trees, scents and finally countries. Describing the beloved without verbs, by these nouns alone, gives the poem a rhythm like that of a prayer or of counting prayer beads. In the sixth couplet the opposition of "ser-efgende" (head bowed) and "ser-efrâz" (head raised high) is antithesis (tezat). In the fifth couplet words relating to the sky, such as "bedr, tulû', tâli', neyyir, Keyvân" (full moon, rising, fortune, shining star, Saturn), are brought together. In the eighth couplet the beloved turns into a map of the East stretching from Badakhshan to Khorasan.

Historical Context

In a footnote Kılıç states that this ghazal is a nazire (response poem) to a ghazal written by Muhibbî for Hürrem Sultan, and he quotes that ghazal from Coşkun Ak's edition of Muhibbî's divan. Muhibbî is the pen name of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent; Hürrem Sultan is Bayezid's mother. The prince thus answers a poem his father wrote to his mother. Muhibbî's ghazal is in the same metre and rhyme and uses the same cataloguing technique: many words, such as "abîr, 'anber, habîb, mâh-ı tâbân, verd-i handân, çenâr, merâm, dürr-i şehvâr, şem'-i şebistân, turunc u nâr u nârenc", are shared by the two poems. Muhibbî's couplet of countries also includes Istanbul, Karaman and Rûm; in Bayezid's eighth couplet their place is taken by China, Machin, Samarkand and Shiraz. Whether this difference carries any meaning is not known.

The last couplet gives a clue as to whom the nazire is directed. Şâhî likens himself to the feeble ant before Süleyman; this is a familiar contrast based on the Qur'anic story of the Prophet Solomon and the ant (al-Naml 27:18-19). That a nazire written on his father's poem should close with the address "şâh-ı Süleymân" suggests that the couplet points both to the prophet Solomon and to Sultan Süleyman. The same image of the ant and Süleyman Han also appears in ghazal 29 of the divan. This interpretation is ours; the edition does not state when the ghazal was written.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 92-93, ghazal no. 95 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 35b); footnote 111 (nazire to Muhibbî's ghazal for Hürrem Sultan; from Coşkun Ak, Muhibbî Divanı, Ankara: KTB, 1987, p. 551); also p. 4 (Bayezid's mother Hürrem Sultan), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Academic studies

Online sources