Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün

Hâne-i ahzânuma bassa kadem hânum benüm
Çıkmak ister raks urup şevk ile bu cânum benüm
Zahm uraldan tîg-i müjgânun dil-i sad-pâreme
Su yirine kan akıdur çeşm-i giryânum benüm
Dûd-ı âhumla ne tan göge boyasam ‘âlemi
Gayrlarla seyr ider ol mâh-ı tâbânum benüm
Kıssa-i derd-i derûnum niçün irmez gûşuna
Söylenür hod fâş olup dillerde destânum benüm
Sâye gibi âşık-ı üftadelerden dûr olup
Seyr ider gün gibi tenhâ mâh-ı devrânum benüm
Dûd-ı âhum göklere boyadı rûy-ı ‘âlemi
Nâr-ı âhumdan sakın ey şâh-ı hûbânum benüm
Şöyle bed-nâmuz bu gün ‘ışk ile Şâhî dünyede
Okıyan hayrân olur ‘âlemde destânum benüm

In English

1. If my khan (my sovereign) set foot in this house of sorrows of mine, this soul of mine would wish to leave the body dancing with joy.

2. Ever since the sword of your lashes struck my heart, which is in a hundred pieces, my weeping eye has shed blood instead of water.

3. What wonder if I paint the world sky-coloured with the smoke of my sighs; that shining moon of mine goes strolling with others.

4. Why does the tale of the pain within me not reach your ear; my legend is already laid bare and told on every tongue.

5. The moon of my age keeps away from his lovers, fallen to the ground like shadows, and strolls alone like the sun.

6. The smoke of my sighs has painted the face of the world up to the skies; O shah of the beauties, beware the fire of my sighs.

7. O Şâhî, today we are so notorious in the world because of love that whoever reads my legend in the world is filled with wonder.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The seven-couplet ghazal is written in the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern. The redif (refrain word) is "benüm" (my, of mine), and the rhyme is the "-ân" sound in "hân, cân, giryân, tâbân, destân, devrân, hûbân" followed by the suffix "-um". The rhyme word "destânum" is used twice, in the fourth and seventh couplets. The first lines of the third and sixth couplets also repeat almost the same idea: the smoke of the sigh paints the world up to the sky. Such repetitions suggest that the ghazal may have entered the divan before it took its final form; this is our conjecture. Kılıç counts the ghazal among the ten with the redif "benüm" ("95" in footnote 73; in this part of the edition the numbers in the introduction are one less than those of the text). In the edition the folio mark 36a stands at the end of the second couplet. The addressee is not stated.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

"Hâne-i ahzân" (house of sorrows) in the opening couplet is a phrase that recalls the house to which the Prophet Jacob withdrew after losing Joseph. In the same line "hâne" (house) and "hân" (khan, ruler) stand side by side and create a sound play: a khan is to be the guest of the house of sorrow. The soul leaving the body dancing with joy if the beloved comes is a frequent expression of the divan poetry view that sees death in love as a festival of union. In the second couplet the lash becomes a sword and the tear turns to blood; this line occurs in almost the same form in other poems of Şâhî as well ("Hasretünden kan akıdur çeşm-i giryânum benüm" is the first line of murabba 11, which Kılıç quotes in his introduction).

In the third and sixth couplets the word "gök" can be read in two senses: the smoke of the sigh covers the world up to the sky, or it paints the world sky-coloured, that is, blue. The fifth couplet builds a congruence of images (tenasüp) between shadow, sun and moon. The lovers are like shadows fallen on the ground; the beloved, far from them, is like the sun walking alone in the sky. Calling the beloved "mâh" (moon) at the same time unites the two lights of night and day in one person. In the fourth and seventh couplets the lover's pain is a "destân" (legend); everyone knows it, only it does not reach the beloved's ear. In the closing couplet being "bed-nâm" (notorious) is turned into a cause for pride: the story of the disgraced lover fills its readers with wonder.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 93-94, ghazal no. 96 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 36a); also p. 29 (footnote 73: ghazals with the redif "benüm") and p. 31 (first stanza of murabba 11), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources