Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Bi-hamdi’llâh yine yanunda bir kaç gün mekân buldum
Belâ vü gussa vü gamdan halâs olup emân buldum
Çekerken gussa-i hecrün visâlün zevkine irdüm
Bi-hamdi’llâh ki ölmişken habîbüm tâze cân buldum
Dehân-ı cân-bahşundan irişdüm âb-ı hayvâna
Ümîdüm ol ki ‘âlemde ecelden ben emân buldum
Ölürdüm derd-i hasretle şehâ fürkat diyarında
İrişdüm hâk-pâyuna hayât-ı câvidân buldum
Egerçi bezm-i vuslatda bu Şâhî ‘ıyş ider ammâ
Firâkun korkusından ben anun hâlin yaman buldum

In English

1. Praise be to God, once again I have found a place beside you for a few days; I have escaped from calamity, grief and sorrow and found safety.

2. While suffering the grief of separation from you I attained the delight of union; my beloved, praise be to God that, though I was dead, I found a fresh soul.

3. From your life-bestowing mouth I reached the water of life; my hope is that I have found safety from death in this world.

4. O shah, I was dying of the pain of longing in the land of separation; I reached the dust of your feet and found eternal life.

5. Though this Şâhî is enjoying himself at the feast of union, I found his state grievous out of fear of separation.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The five-couplet ghazal is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün" pattern. The redif (refrain word) is "buldum" (I found), and the rhyme is the "-ân" sound in "mekân, emân, cân, câvidân, yaman". The rhyme word "emân" is used twice, in the opening and third couplets. Kılıç lists "buldum" among the refrains of the divan. In the edition the ghazal is on pages 94-95 and has no folio mark of its own.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

While most of the divan is built on separation and longing, this ghazal tells of the joy of a reunion. The words "Bi-hamdi'llâh" (praise be to God) are repeated at the beginning of the opening couplet and in the second line of the second couplet; gratitude is the main feeling of the poem. The ghazal is built from beginning to end on the contrast of death and life: finding a fresh soul when dead, reaching the water of life (âb-ı hayvân) from the mouth, finding safety from death, attaining eternal life in the dust of the feet. The water of life is the water of immortality found by Hızır (Khidr); joining the beloved's mouth with this water is one of the familiar images of divan poetry. There is a strong congruence of images (tenasüp) among these words.

The closing couplet shadows the joy of the ghazal from an unexpected side. The poet speaks of himself in the third person as "this Şâhî", and then a second voice speaking as "I" appears: Şâhî is enjoying himself at the feast of union, but I found his state grievous because of the fear of separation. Thinking of the approaching separation even in the midst of union gives the poem a heartfelt tension. The word "yaman" here has its old meaning, "bad, grievous".

Historical Context

Kılıç does not mention this ghazal. The address "şehâ" (O shah) and the expression "hâk-pâ" (the dust of the feet) in the fourth couplet may be directed to a ruler. The words "yanunda bir kaç gün" (a few days beside you) in the opening couplet are very close to the line "Yanunda hoş geçüp bir iki gün hürmetde olmakdur" (to spend a day or two pleasantly beside you, in honour) in murabba 3, which Kılıç quotes as an example of the wish to see his father; what is wished for in the murabba seems to have come true in this ghazal. According to Kılıç, in 1548 Bayezid met his father, who was marching against Iran, at Akşehir, and while the army wintered at Aleppo he was also summoned there by his father. It is conceivable that the ghazal was written after one of these meetings, but since the poem contains no name or date, this is only a conjecture.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 94-95, ghazal no. 98 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225); also p. 7 (the meetings at Akşehir and Aleppo in 1548), p. 29 (refrains) and p. 34 (murabba 3), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources