Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Derd-i hecr-i yâr ile derdâ dilüm bîmârdur
Gice gündüz hem-demüm âh u enîsüm zârdur
Mihnet ü derd ü belâdan gözlerüm hûn-bârdur
Kankı birin eydeyin bin dürlü derdüm vardur
Bir perîden dûr düşdüm görmenün imkânı yok
Derd ü hecri bir onulmaz derd imiş dermânı yok
Cevrinün pâyân u haddi zulminün oranı yok
Kankı birin eydeyin bin dürlü derdüm vardur
Ayırup çarh-ı felek yârümden itdi bî-karâr
Aglaram ben hasret ile gice gündüz zâr u zâr
Bir yana yârân gamı vü bir yana hecr-i nigâr
Kankı birin eydeyin bin dürlü derdüm vardur
Nesne yok hâlümde sensüz hây hânum bilmiş ol
Kâlıb-ı tenden uçayor murg-ı cânum bilmiş ol
Ölürem bir gün kalur boynunda kanum bilmiş ol
Kankı birin eydeyin bin dürlü derdüm vardur
Hasret-i câm-ı lebünle bagrumı hûn eyledün
Fürkat-i bezm-i safâ-bahşunla mahzûn eyledün
N’oldı andan Şâhînün hâlin diger-gûn eyledün
Kankı birin eydeyin bin dürlü derdüm vardur

In English

1. Alas, with the pain of separation from the beloved my heart is sick; night and day my companion is sighing and my friend is lament. From hardship, pain and affliction my eyes rain blood. Which one shall I tell? I have a thousand kinds of pain.

2. I have fallen far from a fairy, and there is no way to see her; separation is a pain that never heals, there is no cure for it. Her cruelty has no end or limit, her tyranny no measure. Which one shall I tell? I have a thousand kinds of pain.

3. The turning wheel of heaven has parted me from my beloved and left me restless; night and day I weep with longing, moaning and moaning. On one side the grief of friends, on the other the separation from the beauty. Which one shall I tell? I have a thousand kinds of pain.

4. My lord, know that without you nothing is left in my state; the bird of my soul is flying from the mould of my body, know it. One day I shall die and my blood will rest on your neck, know it. Which one shall I tell? I have a thousand kinds of pain.

5. With longing for the cup of your lips you turned my heart to blood; parting me from your joy-giving gathering, you made me sorrowful. What happened, that after that you changed Şâhî's state so? Which one shall I tell? I have a thousand kinds of pain.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a murabba of five stanzas, and in the edition it opens the section of murabbas (fol. 66a). The fourth line of each stanza, "Kankı birin eydeyin bin dürlü derdüm vardur", is repeated as a refrain; murabbas with such a refrain are called mütekerrir murabbas. In the first stanza all four lines rhyme on "-ârdur": bîmârdur, zârdur, hûn-bârdur, vardur. In the other stanzas the first three lines rhyme among themselves: in the second "-ânı yok" (imkânı, dermânı, oranı), in the third "-âr" (bî-karâr, zâr, nigâr), in the fourth "-ânum" with the redif (refrain word) "bilmiş ol" (hânum, cânum, kanum), and in the fifth "-ûn eyledün". The metre is the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern of the remel family of aruz (quantitative metre); according to Kılıç's list of metres, nineteen of the twenty-two murabbas in the divan are written in this pattern. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last stanza. It is not known to whom the poem was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The refrain gives the whole poem its order: the lover's pains are so many that he does not know which to tell, and each stanza names one of these countless pains. The first stanza speaks of the sickness of separation, the second of falling far from a fairy who cannot be seen, the third of being parted by the wheel of heaven. The phrase "bir yana yârân gamı, bir yana hecr-i nigâr" in the third stanza sets two griefs side by side; the grief of friends and separation from the beloved are suffered at the same time. This "on one side ... on the other" construction also occurs in other murabbas of the divan.

In the fourth stanza the address changes and the poet calls the beloved "hây hânum", that is, O my lord. The redif "bilmiş ol" (know it) is repeated like a warning in every line. The phrases "murg-ı cân" and "kâlıb-ı ten" liken the soul to a bird and the body to its mould; the flight of the soul's bird is a familiar image of death. The idiom "kanum boynunda kalur" (my blood will rest on your neck) says that the guilt of the death will fall on the beloved. In the last stanza "câm-ı leb" (the cup of the lips) and "bezm-i safâ" (the gathering of joy) build a congruence of images (tenasüp) drawn from the wine gathering. "Diger-gûn eyledün" (you changed my state) is an expression frequent in Şâhî's language for a state turned upside down.

Kılıç notes that the lyricism of Şâhî's murabbas is somewhat stronger than that of his other poems, and that the repetition of the same line at the end of each stanza gives a fluent harmony. This first murabba shows that quality clearly: the refrain returns the reader to the same lament at the end of every stanza, and the plain language of the poem gains force through this repetition.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 129-130, murabba no. 1 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 66a); also pp. 29-30 (on the metres and the murabbas), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources