Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün
Mübtelâ-yı derd ü hicrân olıyor cân u beden
Rûz u şeb endîşe vü hayretde kalsam tan mı ben
Gözüme zindân görinür oldı sahrâ vü çemen
Ey gözüm kan agla ey dil âh u efgân eyle sen
İşigünden bendeni dûr itmek ister rûzgâr
Câna kâr itdi bu gam ey pâdişâh-ı kâm-kâr
Hâlüme rahm ide lutfından meger Perverdigâr
Ey gözüm kan agla ey dil âh u efgân eyle sen
Düşeyin kûhsâr u deşte yine ser-gerdân olup
‘Âlemi geşt ideyin âşüfte vü hayrân olup
Vaslun elde kalmaga çün çâre yok imkân olup
Ey gözüm kan agla ey dil âh u efgân eyle sen
Tutalum kim hem-demüm bir serv-kad gül-fâm ola
Bir elümde la’l-i dil-ber bir elümde câm ola
Sanma ey ârâm-ı cân sensüz bana ârâm ola
Ey gözüm kan agla ey dil âh u efgân eyle sen
Fürkati zehrine degmez âh zevk-ı vuslatı
Bana sor ben bilürem ‘âlemde derd ü firkati
Dostum çok çekmişem Şâhî gibi bu şiddeti
Ey gözüm kan agla ey dil âh u efgân eyle sen
In English
1. Soul and body are falling prey to the pain of separation; is it any wonder if night and day I remain in anxiety and bewilderment? The open country and the meadow have come to look like a dungeon to my eyes. O my eye, weep blood; O heart, sigh and cry out.
2. Time wishes to remove this servant from your threshold; O padishah who has attained his desire, this grief has pierced my soul. Perhaps the Creator in His grace will have pity on my state. O my eye, weep blood; O heart, sigh and cry out.
3. Let me again fall to the mountains and deserts with my head spinning; let me roam the world distraught and bewildered, since there is neither remedy nor possibility that union with you should remain in my hand. O my eye, weep blood; O heart, sigh and cry out.
4. Suppose my companion were a cypress-statured, rose-coloured beauty; in one hand the heart-stealer's ruby lips, in the other the cup. O peace of my soul, do not think there could be peace for me without you. O my eye, weep blood; O heart, sigh and cry out.
5. Alas, the delight of union is not worth the poison of separation; ask me of pain and separation in the world, I know them. My friend, I have suffered this hardship much, like Şâhî. O my eye, weep blood; O heart, sigh and cry out.
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 "-en": beden, ben, çemen, sen. The other stanzas use the rhymes "-âr" (rûzgâr, kâm-kâr, Perverdigâr), "-ân" with the redif (refrain word) "olup", "-âm" with the redif "ola" and "-ati/-eti" (vuslatı, firkati, şiddeti). The refrain is the line "Ey gözüm kan agla ey dil âh u efgân eyle sen". The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last stanza (fol. 74b).
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The refrain consists of two separate addresses: the poet tells his eye to weep blood and his heart to sigh and cry out. This division between eye and tears, heart and sighs is an apostrophe (nidâ) and personification that makes the organs speak like persons. The expression "Gözüme zindân görinür" (looks like a dungeon to my eyes) in the first stanza also occurs in the line "Tapunsuz gözüme zindân görinür mülk-i Yunanî" of the third murabba. In the third stanza falling to the mountains and deserts and roaming in bewilderment is a familiar image recalling the state of Mecnun. The epithets "ser-gerdân" (head spinning) and "âşüfte vü hayrân" (distraught and bewildered) in this stanza complete the words "endîşe vü hayret" (anxiety and bewilderment) of the first stanza.
The fourth stanza is a hypothetical picture beginning "suppose": even with a cypress-statured beauty at his side, the heart-stealer's lips in one hand and the cup in the other, the lover cannot find peace without his beloved. In the last stanza the delight of union and the poison of separation are compared and the pain of separation outweighs it; the poet says that he himself knows pain and separation best.
The address of the second stanza is the most notable passage of the poem. Time wishes to remove the poet from the addressee's threshold, and the addressee is called "pâdişâh-ı kâm-kâr" (padishah who has attained his desire). This wording is very close to the line "Hizmetünden bendeni dûr idiyor ey pâdişâh" (it is removing this servant from your service, O padishah) in the ninth murabba. Kılıç shows that falling far from service and from the threshold is often treated in the poems in which Bayezid addresses his father, Süleyman; this murabba is not mentioned among them, but it may be said that its second stanza carries the same language. This connection is our own reading.
Bibliography
- Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 139, murabba no. 13 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 74b); also pp. 32-34 (poems addressed to his father), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.
Online sources
