Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Fe’ûlün
Letâfet gülsitânıdur cemâlün
Melâmet bûstânıdur cemâlün
Ruhun tâbiyle gül tâbende olmış
Hatun bûyına sünbül bende olmış
Hatun âşüftesi reyhân u ‘anber
Kadün hayrânı şimşâd u sanavber
Cemâlün seyrine nergisler ey şâh
Dökilmiş yollar üzre gözedür râh
N’ola yüz kızdurup ey yâr-ı gülnâr
Dise yüzüne sensüz bana gül nâr
Degüldür şevk-i gülden zâr bülbül
Firâkundan ider feryâd u gulgul
Ko medhi hecr elinden dâd eyle
Baş aç meydâna gir feryâd eyle
Nedür bu çekdügün devrân elinden
Vefâsuz cevri çok cânân elinden
Hayâl-i vaslun olmayaydı zikrüm
Gamunla taglara düşmekdi fikrüm
Gözümde uçar ey mihr ü hayâlün
Kerem eyle yine göster cemâlün
Saçun gibi gönül hâli müşevveş
Ko cevri rahm kıl ey yâr-i ser-keş
Ciger hûn oldı la’lün hasretinden
Kadüm ham oldı kaddün fürkatünden
Gönülden uyku gitdi dilden ârâm
Belâ küncinde kaldum zâr u nâ-kâm
Meded derd ü gamun cânuma yetdi
Sirişküm ‘âlemi gark-âb itdi
Şekîb ü sabr u ârâm u karârum
Elümden gitdi hep ey şehr-yârüm
Olaydı sende ger ey şâh şefkat
Komazdun fürkatünde böyle hasret
Bu mihnet ey ‘aceb cânândan mı
Yahûd bu gadri çok devrândan mı
Kerem eyle benüm şâh-ı cihânum
Ten-i fersûdede rûh-ı revânum
Cenâbun Ka’be-i halk-ı cihândur
Tavâf itmek anı dermân-ı cândur
Cemâlün pertevi nûr-ı Hudâdur
Dile Merve hakı seyri safâdur
Beni ol âsitândan dûr itme
Elüm al yirde koyup hor itme
Şehâ Şâhî gulâmun kâmrân it
Sevindür gamlı gönlin şâdmân it
Yeter gözinde uçurdun hayâlün
Murâdıdur hemân göster cemâlün
Dırâz itdün sözi başla du’âya
Şehenşâh-ı cihân zıll-ı Hudâya
Hudâyâ gönlini gamdan berî kıl
Vücûdın mülk-i sıhhat serveri kıl
Hemîşe kâm-bîn ü kâmrân it
Niçe yıllar dahı şâh-ı cihân it
Hudâyâ ‘ömrini anun dırâz it
‘Adûsı ‘ömrini eksüld ü az it
Cenâb-ı ‘izzete yüz urdı Şâhî
Kabûl eyle du’âsın yâ İlâhî
In English
1. Your beauty is the rose garden of grace; your beauty is the orchard of blame (that brings reproach upon lovers).
2. With the radiance of your cheek the rose has grown bright; to the scent of your down the hyacinth has become a slave.
3. Basil and ambergris are infatuated with your down; boxwood and pine are bewildered by your stature.
4. O shah, the narcissi, to view your beauty, are scattered along the roads, watching the way.
5. O beloved with cheeks like pomegranate blossom, what wonder if (the lover), his face reddening, should say to your face, "without you the rose is fire to me"?
6. The nightingale's lament is not from longing for the rose; it cries and warbles from separation from you.
7. (O heart,) leave praise aside, complain at the hand of separation; bare your head, enter the arena, cry out.
8. What is this (pain) you suffer at the hand of time, at the hand of a faithless beloved of much cruelty?
9. Had the dream of union with you not been on my tongue, my one thought would have been to take to the mountains in grief for you.
10. O sun, your image flutters in my eye; be gracious, show your beauty again.
11. The state of my heart is dishevelled like your hair; O headstrong beloved, leave cruelty, have mercy.
12. From longing for your ruby lip my liver has turned to blood; from separation from your stature my stature has bent.
13. Sleep has left my heart, peace has left my heart; I am left in the corner of affliction, lamenting and unfulfilled.
14. Help, your pain and grief have reached my soul; my tears have drowned the world.
15. O my sovereign, my patience, endurance, peace and steadiness have all slipped from my hands.
16. O shah, if there were compassion in you, you would not leave me in such longing in your separation.
17. How strange, is this ordeal from the beloved, or from time, which is full of treachery?
18. Be gracious, O my shah of the world, O flowing spirit of my worn-out body.
19. Your exalted court is the Kaaba of the people of the world; to circle it is the cure of the soul.
20. The radiance of your beauty is the light of God; for the heart, its Marwa is truly the sight of Safa (is joy).
21. Do not drive me far from that threshold; take my hand, do not leave me on the ground and despise me.
22. O shah, bring your servant Şâhî to his desire; gladden his grieving heart and make it joyful.
23. Enough, you have made your image flutter in his eye; his only wish is that you show your beauty.
24. You have drawn the words out long; begin the prayer for the Shahanshah of the world, the shadow of God.
25. O God, keep his heart free of grief; make his being the lord of the realm of health.
26. Make him ever one who sees and attains his desires; make him the shah of the world for many more years.
27. O God, make his life long; diminish and shorten the life of his enemy.
28. Şâhî has turned his face to the presence of (divine) majesty; O God, accept his prayer.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
With twenty-eight couplets the second mesnevi is the longest of the three. Each couplet rhymes within itself, and the pattern "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün fe'ûlün" is used. In the edition the mark [85b] stands beside the number, [86a] at the end of the ninth couplet, [86b] at the end of the eighteenth and [87a] at the end of the twenty-seventh. The mark [90a] at the end of the last couplet may point to the beginning of the next mesnevi, because of the three ghazals that follow the two mesnevis in the arrangement Kılıç describes; this is our conjecture. The poem falls into four parts: a description of beauty (1-6), the poet addressing himself and turning to complaint (7-17), a plea to the shah (18-23) and a prayer (24-28). Most of the rhymes are full; "şefkat/hasret" (16) is weak.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The first six couplets lay out a garden: rose, hyacinth, basil, ambergris, boxwood, pine, narcissus and nightingale serve the beloved's cheek, down and stature. This is a wide weave of tenasüp (congruence of images). The narcissi scattered on the roads and watching the way are a personification (teşhis) resting on the comparison of the narcissus to the eye. In the fifth couplet there is a compound pun (mürekkep cinas) between "gülnâr" (pomegranate blossom) and "gül nâr" (the rose is fire). In the seventh couplet the poet addresses himself and turns from praise to complaint; this turn is the axis of the poem. In the nineteenth and twentieth couplets the beloved's court is likened to the Kaaba; the words "Merve" and "safâ" recall the running between the hills of Safa and Marwa during the pilgrimage, while "safâ" also means "joy". This is a tevriye (double entendre). In the twenty-fourth couplet, with the words "Dırâz itdün sözi başla du'âya" (you have drawn the words out long, begin the prayer), the poet again addresses himself and moves to a close resembling the prayer section at the end of a kaside (qasida).
Historical Context
The phrase "Şehenşâh-ı cihân zıll-ı Hudâ" (Shahanshah of the world, shadow of God) in the prayer couplets is a title used for the sovereign. Kılıç notes that in the last couplets of the mesnevi at the end of the divan Şâhî wishes his father a long life and reign; in the edition these prayers are in couplets 25-27 of this mesnevi. Accordingly, the beloved addressed in the poem as "şâh" and "şehr-yâr" is the sovereign, that is, Kanuni. Kılıç also shows that the prince's longing to see his father rises to the pitch of entreaty in the poems at the end of the divan, and that in the third murabba he says "Murâdum hâk-i pâyünde hemân hizmetde olmakdur" (my only wish is to be in service at the dust of your feet). The plea "Beni ol âsitândan dûr itme" (do not drive me far from that threshold) in this mesnevi matches the same wish; this comparison is our own. The date of the poem is not known.
Bibliography
- Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 151-153, mesnevi no. 2 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fols. 85b-87a); also p. 27 (arrangement of the divan), p. 34 (murabba no. 3, the longing to see the father), p. 36 (the last couplets of the final mesnevi), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.
- Mustafa Çiçekler, "Mesnevî", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 29, Ankara 2004, pp. 320-322. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mesnevi
Online sources
