Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef’ûlü Fâ’ilâtü Mefâ’îlü Fâ’ilün

Gül-geşt ide sahn-ı güle dün sürüp semend
Gitdüm yanumca bir niçe gül-fâm u serv-kad
İçinde biri gönlüm alup kıldı müstemend
Meh-rûy serv-kâmet ü gül-bûy lâle-had
Şol dem ki gözüme tuş oldı serv-kâmeti
Sandum kopardı başuma ol dem kıyâmeti
Sandı ayaga aldı elümden selâmeti
Meh-rûy serv-kâmet ü gül-bûy lâle-had
Zülfi şikenci murg-ı dili eyleyüp esîr
Kıldı havâle gamzelerin cânâ hem çü şîr
Kaldum belâda olmadı bir lahza dest-gîr
Meh-rûy serv-kâmet ü gül-bûy lâle-had
Nergis göziyle sihr ile elden alup dili
Cân murgına ki saldı kemend zülfi sünbüli
Bakdum lebine dikkat ile kılca yok beli
Meh-rûy serv-kâmet ü gül-bûy lâle-had
Sünbül saçını gül yüzine eyleyüp nikâb
Nergis gözi ile cân u dile saldı ıztırâb
Şâhî elinde komadı ârâm u sabr u hâb
Meh-rûy serv-kâmet ü gül-bûy lâle-had

In English

1. Yesterday, going out to view the roses, I spurred my horse into the middle of the rose garden; a few rose-skinned, cypress-statured beauties went along with me. One among them took my heart and left me suffering: moon-faced, cypress-statured, rose-scented, tulip-cheeked.

2. When her cypress stature met my eye, I thought that at that moment the Resurrection broke over my head; she took my well-being from my hand and trod it underfoot. Moon-faced, cypress-statured, rose-scented, tulip-cheeked.

3. The curl of her lock took the bird of the heart captive and set her glances on my soul like lions. I was left in affliction; not for a moment did anyone take my hand. Moon-faced, cypress-statured, rose-scented, tulip-cheeked.

4. With her narcissus eye she cast a spell and took the heart from my hand; the hyacinth of her lock threw a lasso over the bird of the soul. I looked closely at her lips; as for her waist, there is not even a hair of it. Moon-faced, cypress-statured, rose-scented, tulip-cheeked.

5. Making her hyacinth hair a veil over her rose face, with her narcissus eye she cast torment on soul and heart. She left in Şâhî's hand neither peace nor patience nor sleep. Moon-faced, cypress-statured, rose-scented, tulip-cheeked.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a murabba of five stanzas with a refrain. The metre is the "mef'ûlü fâ'ilâtü mefâ'îlü fâ'ilün" pattern of the muzari family of aruz (quantitative metre); according to Kılıç's list of metres this is the only murabba in the divan written in this pattern, all the others being built on remel or hezec patterns. In the first stanza the rhyme scheme differs from the others: the first and third lines rhyme with "semend" and "müstemend", the second and fourth with "serv-kad" and "lâle-had". The other stanzas use the rhymes "-âmeti" (kâmeti, kıyâmeti, selâmeti), "-îr" (esîr, şîr, dest-gîr), "-ili/-üli" (dili, sünbüli, beli) and "-âb" (nikâb, ıztırâb, hâb). The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last stanza (fol. 79b). It is not known to whom the poem was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The murabba opens with a small story: yesterday the poet spurred his horse into the garden for a rose-viewing outing ("gül-geşt"), a few beauties were with him, and one of them took his heart. Such a narrative frame is not often found in murabbas of divan poetry; the rest of the poem is a description of this beauty. The refrain consists of four adjectives without a predicate: "meh-rûy" (moon-faced), "serv-kâmet" (cypress-statured), "gül-bûy" (rose-scented) and "lâle-had" (tulip-cheeked). Each is a condensed simile (teşbih-i beliğ), and the four together draw a one-line portrait of the beloved.

In the second stanza the appearance of the cypress stature is likened to the breaking of the Resurrection; between "kâmet" (stature) and "kıyâmet" (Resurrection) there is a relation of sound and sense often used in divan poetry. The third line of the same stanza reads "Sandı ayaga aldı elümden selâmeti"; the word "sandı" is obscure in context, and we have understood the line as "she took my well-being from my hand and trod it underfoot". In the third stanza the lock takes the bird of the heart captive and the glances attack like lions. In the fourth stanza the poet looks "closely" at the beloved's lips, while her waist is not even a hair; in divan poetry the smallness of the mouth and the slenderness of the waist are exaggerated to the point of being called "nonexistent". In the last stanza hyacinth hair, rose face and narcissus eye build a floral congruence of images (tenasüp); the beloved leaves the lover neither peace nor patience nor sleep.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 144-145, murabba no. 19 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 79b); also p. 29 (metres), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources