Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün

Bendesine kılmış ol şâhum selâm
Hak Te’âlâ ‘ömrin itsün müstedâm
Müjde virdüm bu selâma cânumı
İrdi haste cânuma dermân-ı tâm
Şem’-veş yandum firâkun nârına
‘Âşıkun çün kârı yanmakdur müdâm
Giceler bülbül gibi âh eylerem
Bâg-ı hüsnünden ırag ey gonce-fâm
Sensüz ey ârâm-ı cânum Şâhîye
Dünyede dirlik harâm oldı harâm

In English

1. That shah of mine has sent greetings to his servant; may God Almighty make his life everlasting.

2. I gave my soul as a reward for this greeting's good news; a complete cure has reached my sick soul.

3. I burned like a candle in the fire of separation from you; for the lover's work is always to burn.

4. O rosebud-coloured beloved, far from the garden of your beauty I sigh like the nightingale through the nights.

5. O repose of my soul, without you a peaceful living in this world has become forbidden to Şâhî, forbidden.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The five-couplet ghazal is written in the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern. Kılıç notes that eleven Turkish ghazals in the divan are written in this short remel metre. The ghazal has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is the "-âm" sound in "selâm, müstedâm, tâm, müdâm, fâm, harâm". The short metre and the structure without a redif give the poem the air of a letter or a brief reply. In the edition the folio mark 37a stands at the beginning of the ghazal.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal opens with a greeting sent by the shah to his servant. The poet's first response is a prayer for the shah's life, and in the second couplet he says that he gave his soul as a "müjdelik", the reward for good news, for this greeting. Giving a gift to the bearer of good news is an old custom; here the gift is the soul itself, and in return a complete cure has come to the sick soul. The third and fourth couplets return to classic images: the lover is the candle melting in the fire of separation, the nightingale fallen far from the rose garden. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between candle, fire and burning, and between nightingale, garden and rosebud.

The word "dirlik" in the last couplet can be read in two senses. In its everyday sense it means living in peace; in Ottoman administration it is a name for the timar, the system based on the allocation of state lands for military and administrative purposes. Coming from the pen of a prince who was a provincial governor, the line "dünyada dirlik harâm oldı" (living in the world has become forbidden) may also evoke this second sense; this possible double entendre (tevriye) is our reading. The repetition "harâm oldı harâm" at the end of the line is a repetition (tekrir) that strengthens the emphasis.

Historical Context

Kılıç does not mention this ghazal. However, among the poems that Kılıç says carry the voice of a son awaiting letters from his father is the couplet of ghazal 42, "Nâme-i cân-bahşun ile yâd idersen tîz tîz / Pâdişâhum Şâhîye gâyet büyük ihsândur" (if you remember me soon with a life-giving letter, my padishah, it is a very great favour to Şâhî; cited in the introduction as "G43/5"). This ghazal seems to describe a moment when that expectation was answered: the shah has sent greetings to his servant, and the servant has given his soul as the reward for the good news. The prayer for long life in the first couplet is also an expression directed to a ruler. That the ghazal may have been written to the father is only our reading; the poem contains no name or date.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 95, ghazal no. 99 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 37a); also p. 29 (metres) and p. 32 (the son awaiting letters from his father, "G43/5"), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.
  • "Dirlik", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (cross-reference entry; see Timar), https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/dirlik.

Online sources