Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Dûr olalı gün yüzünden yatludur başum benüm
Garka virdi ‘âlemi Ceyhûn-veş yaşum benüm
Derd ü gam hecr ü belâdur yâr u yoldaşum benüm
Dil-nevâzum sevdügüm her hâlde hâldaşum benüm
Gönlümün eğlencesi vü cânumun cânânısın
Haste cânumçün tabîb ü derdümün dermânısın
Yâ meleksin yâ perîsin yâhud âdem cânısın
Dil-nevâzum sevdügüm her hâlde hâldaşum benüm
Gül yüzünden ayrılalı bülbül-i cân hastedür
Giceden tâ subha dek âhum göge peyvestedür
Cân u dil ey mâh-rû mihr-i ruhunla bestedür
Dil-nevâzum sevdügüm her hâlde hâldaşum benüm
Âfitâb-ı hüsnün ile çün münevverdür cihân
Lutf idüben itmegil ben zerreden anı nihân
Pâk-bâz-ı ‘ışk olanlar terk ider rûh-ı revân
Dil-nevâzum sevdügüm her hâlde hâldaşum benüm
Âteş-i fürkatle cânâ olalı bagrum kebâb
Bezm-i gamda eyledüm şâhâ gözüm yaşın kebâb
Giceler tâ subh olınca inlerüm hem çün rebâb
Dil-nevâzum sevdügüm her hâlde hâldaşum benüm
Hecr ü fürkat içre cânâ çekdügüm derd ü belâ
Tâ kıyâmet şerh olınsa binde bir olmaz edâ
Hâsılı hasret füzûn fürkat gamı bî-intihâ
Dil-nevâzum sevdügüm her hâlde hâldaşum benüm
Ayrılalı gün yüzünden hasret ile ey nigâr
Giceler bülbül gibi işüm gücüm âh ile zâr
Ne visâlün hâsıl olur ne kılur gönlüm karâr
Dil-nevâzum sevdügüm her hâlde hâldaşum benüm
Mihnet ü derd ü belâ kûhında Ferhâd olmışam
Yaş döküp kan aglamak fenninde üstâd olmışam
Bülbül-i şeydâ gibi feryâda mu’tâd olmışam
Dil-nevâzum sevdügüm her hâlde hâldaşum benüm
Âteş-i fürkat yakup bagrumı pür-hûn eyledi
Akıdup gözüm yaşın mânend-i Ceyhûn eyledi
Yıkuban dil mülkini Şâhîyi mahzûn eyledi
Dil-nevâzum sevdügüm her hâlde hâldaşum benüm

In English

1. Since I fell far from your sunlike face my head has lain on the pillow; my tears, flowing like the Ceyhun (Oxus), have drowned the world. Pain, grief, separation and affliction are my friend and companion. My heart's comforter, my beloved, in every state my partner in sorrow.

2. You are my heart's delight and my soul's beloved; for my sick soul you are the physician and the cure for my pain. Either you are an angel or a fairy, or else the very soul of mankind. My heart's comforter, my beloved, in every state my partner in sorrow.

3. Since it parted from your rose face the nightingale of the soul has been sick; from night until morning my sighs reach the sky. O moon-faced one, soul and heart are bound to the sun (the love) of your cheek. My heart's comforter, my beloved, in every state my partner in sorrow.

4. Since the world is lit by the sun of your beauty, be gracious and do not hide it from me, a mote of dust. Those who stake everything on love give up even the flowing soul. My heart's comforter, my beloved, in every state my partner in sorrow.

5. O my soul, since my breast was roasted by the fire of separation, O shah, I have made the tears of my eyes roast (kebab) at the gathering of grief. At night until morning comes I moan like a rebab. My heart's comforter, my beloved, in every state my partner in sorrow.

6. O my soul, if the pain and affliction I suffer in separation were told until the Resurrection, not one in a thousand would be expressed; in short, longing grows and the grief of separation is endless. My heart's comforter, my beloved, in every state my partner in sorrow.

7. O beauty, since I parted from your sunlike face with longing, at night, like the nightingale, my whole work is sighing and moaning. Neither is union with you attained nor does my heart find rest. My heart's comforter, my beloved, in every state my partner in sorrow.

8. On the mountain of hardship, pain and affliction I have become Ferhad; in the art of shedding tears and weeping blood I have become a master; like the frenzied nightingale I have grown used to crying out. My heart's comforter, my beloved, in every state my partner in sorrow.

9. The fire of separation burned my breast and filled it with blood; it made the tears of my eyes flow like the Ceyhun; it laid waste the land of the heart and made Şâhî sorrowful. My heart's comforter, my beloved, in every state my partner in sorrow.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

With nine stanzas the poem is Şâhî's longest murabba, 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 end with the redif (refrain word) "benüm" and rhyme on "-aşum": başum, yaşum, yoldaşum, hâldaşum. The other stanzas use the rhymes "-ânısın", "-estedür", "-ân", "-âb", "-â", "-âr", "-âd olmışam" and "-ûn eyledi". The refrain is the line "Dil-nevâzum sevdügüm her hâlde hâldaşum benüm". The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last stanza (fols. 76a-76b).

In the fifth stanza the word "kebâb" is repeated as a rhyme in two lines: the breast is roasted, and then the tears are made "kebâb". In Şâhî's other murabbas tears turn into wine ("Bezm-i gamda gözlerüm yaşın şarâb itdün benüm"); for this reason the word "şarâb" (wine) is expected in the second place. We note this as our own reading without changing the text. When Kılıç quotes the seventh stanza as an example in his introduction, he gives the first line as "Ayrılalı gün yüzünden hayret ile ey nigâr"; in the text the word is "hasret" (longing).

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The "hâldaş" of the refrain is a partner in sorrow who shares one's state; together with "yâr u yoldaş" (friend and companion) in the first stanza it builds a congruence of images (tenasüp) of companionship. The poet has taken pains as his companions, while he counts the beloved as his partner in every state. In the second stanza the question whether the beloved is an angel, a fairy or the very soul of mankind is an example of feigned ignorance (tecâhül-i ârif). In the phrase "mihr-i ruh" in the third stanza the word "mihr" means both sun and love. In the fourth stanza there is a congruence of images between the sun and the mote: like the mote seen in a sunbeam, the lover exists in the beloved's light.

The river Ceyhun is mentioned at the beginning and the end of the poem: in the first stanza the tears drown the world like the Ceyhun, and in the last the fire of separation makes the tears flow like the Ceyhun. This repetition gives the poem a frame that returns to where it began; this observation is our own. The rebab simile in the fifth stanza ties the moaning to the sound of an instrument. In the eighth stanza the poet likens himself to Ferhad on the mountain of pain and says that he has become a "master" in the art of weeping blood; this expression also occurs in a similar form in the sixth murabba.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 140-142, murabba no. 15 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fols. 76a, 76b); also p. 31 (examples from the murabbas), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources