Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün
Yâr ser-keş baht nâ-fercâm tâli’ ser-nigûn
Cân nâlân dil perîşân çeşm giryân eşk hûn
Tâkatüm tâk oldı derd ü gussadan oldum zebûn
Dâd elünden ey cefâsı çok vefâsuz çarh-ı dûn
Olmadı gitdi benümle ol perî râm ey dirîg
Gussadan dil eylemez bir yirde ârâm ey dirîg
Nâzenîn ‘ömrüm gelüp geçmekde nâ-kâm ey dirîg
Dâd elünden ey cefâsı çok vefâsuz çarh-ı dûn
Bebr-i gam pâyende-hâl ü dil diger-gûn olmada
Kara bagrum pençesi zahm ile pür-hûn olmada
Nesne yok hâlümde kaldum şöyle magbûn olmada
Dâd elünden ey cefâsı çok vefâsuz çarh-ı dûn
Suya el sunsam elümde ey dirîgâ hâk olur
Destüme bir deste gül alsam hemân hâşâk olur
Tâli’üm yâd itdügümce âh zührem çâk olur
Dâd elünden ey cefâsı çok vefâsuz çarh-ı dûn
Zahm-ı gamdan yir mi var kim dilde yüz bin yâre yok
Derdüm artar agladukça aglamakdan çâre yok
Bencileyin Şâhiyâ nâ-kâm bir bî-çâre yok
Dâd elünden ey cefâsı çok vefâsuz çarh-ı dûn
In English
1. The beloved rebellious, fortune ill-starred, my star turned upside down; the soul moaning, the heart distraught, the eye weeping, the tears blood. My strength is spent; I have grown weak from pain and sorrow. O base, faithless wheel of heaven, so full of cruelty, I cry out against you.
2. Alas, that fairy never came to terms with me and went away; alas, the heart finds no rest anywhere for sorrow. Alas, my delicate life is coming and going without attaining its wish. O base, faithless wheel of heaven, so full of cruelty, I cry out against you.
3. The tiger of grief does not stir from its place and the heart is turned upside down; my black breast is filling with blood from the wound of its claw. Nothing is left of my state; I have been left thus deceived and ruined. O base, faithless wheel of heaven, so full of cruelty, I cry out against you.
4. Alas, if I reach out my hand to water, it turns to dust in my hand; if I take a bunch of roses in my hand, at once it turns to chaff. Whenever I think of my fortune, ah, my gall bursts. O base, faithless wheel of heaven, so full of cruelty, I cry out against you.
5. Is there a place in my heart without a hundred thousand wounds from the wound of grief? The more I weep the more my pain grows, yet there is no remedy but weeping. O Şâhî, there is no helpless one so luckless as I. O base, faithless wheel of heaven, so full of cruelty, I cry out against you.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The poem is a murabba of five stanzas with a refrain, written in the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern of the remel family of aruz (quantitative metre). In the first stanza the four lines rhyme on "-ûn": ser-nigûn, hûn, zebûn, dûn. The other stanzas use "-âm" with the redif (refrain word) "ey dirîg", "-ûn olmada", "-âk" with the redif "olur" (hâk, hâşâk, çâk) and "-âre" with the redif "yok". The refrain is the line "Dâd elünden ey cefâsı çok vefâsuz çarh-ı dûn". The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last stanza in the form "Şâhiyâ" (fol. 74a).
Meaning and Figures of Speech
In this murabba the complaint is directed less at the beloved than at heaven itself. The refrain cries "dâd", for mercy, to the base wheel of heaven, described as full of cruelty and faithless. The first line is a list without a predicate: the beloved rebellious, fortune ill-starred, the star turned upside down; the second line lists soul, heart, eye and tears in the same way. These short phrases set one after another create the rhythm of the stanza. In the words "tâkatüm tâk oldı" (my strength is spent) in the third line there is a play of sound between "tâkat" (strength) and "tâk" (exhausted); this observation is our own. In the second stanza the redif "ey dirîg" (alas) is repeated three times and strengthens the lament.
In the third stanza grief is likened to a tiger ("bebr"); the black breast fills with blood from the wound of its claw. The meaning of the phrase "pâyende-hâl" in the same line is not clear; we have understood it as "of lasting state, not stirring from its place". The fourth stanza describes ill fortune in a hyperbolic picture: in the hand reaching for water the water turns to dust, and the rose that is picked turns to chaff. The words "zührem çâk olur" correspond to the idiom "my gall bursts", that is, I am terrified. The last stanza says that weeping increases the pain, yet there is no remedy but weeping; this contradiction expresses the lover's lack of any way out.
Kılıç says that Şâhî produced the best examples of "hasb-i hâl", the poem in which the poet tells of his own troubles, in divan poetry, and that his poems convey the sorrows of an unfortunate prince who could not attain his wishes. This murabba, complaining of heaven, fits that tone; but it is not clear to which event it is tied, and Kılıç does not mention this poem separately.
Bibliography
- Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 138-139, murabba no. 12 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 74a); also pp. 30-31 (personal-complaint poems and the murabbas), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.
Online sources
