Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün
İrüp şâh-ı cihân bezmine el virmiş iken vuslat
Safâ câmına el vurup iderken rûz u şeb ‘işret
Dirîgâ sohbeti bozdı yine bu çarh-ı bî-şefkat
Helâk itdi beni hecrün ne müşkil derd imiş fürkat
Visâl-i yâre irdükde sevindüm şâdmân oldum
Safâ bezmine şâhâne oturdum kâmrân oldum
Elümden bâde-i vuslat gidelden nâ-tüvân oldum
Helâk itdi beni hecrün ne müşkil derd imiş fürkat
Belâ-yı derd-i hecrünle bana hîç bilmezem n’oldı
Gönülden şâdluk gitdi yirine derd ü gam toldı
Ruhum berg-i hazân-mânendi bâd-ı hecr ile soldı
Helâk itdi beni hecrün ne müşkil derd imiş fürkat
Koyup el sînede karşunda hizmet bana ‘izzetdür
Göz ucıyla nazar şâhum kuluna ‘ayn-ı hürmetdür
Eger mektûb ile geh geh anarsan ‘âlî-himmetdür
Helâk itdi beni hecrün ne müşkil derd imiş fürkat
Şeb-i fürkatde nâr-ı şevk ile dil şem’-veş yandı
Çerâgı tekye-i ‘ışkun söyinmiş idi uyandı
Duhân-ı âh-ı Şâhîyle felekler göge boyandı
Helâk itdi beni hecrün ne müşkil derd imiş fürkat
In English
1. When union had come within my reach and I had attained the gathering of the shah of the world, while I was reaching for the cup of joy and making merry night and day, alas, this pitiless wheel of heaven broke up the gathering once again. Your absence has destroyed me; what a hard pain separation is.
2. When I attained union with the beloved I rejoiced and was glad; I sat royally at the gathering of joy and had my wish. Since the wine of union left my hand I have fallen weak. Your absence has destroyed me; what a hard pain separation is.
3. With the affliction of the pain of your absence I do not know at all what has happened to me; joy left my heart and pain and grief filled its place. My cheek has faded like an autumn leaf in the wind of separation. Your absence has destroyed me; what a hard pain separation is.
4. To serve before you with my hand on my breast is honour for me; my shah, even a glance from the corner of your eye at your servant is respect itself. If you remember me now and then with a letter, that is magnanimity. Your absence has destroyed me; what a hard pain separation is.
5. In the night of separation the heart burned like a candle with the fire of longing; the lamp of your love's lodge, which had gone out, woke again. With the smoke of Şâhî's sighs the heavens were dyed sky-blue. Your absence has destroyed me; what a hard pain separation is.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The poem is a murabba of five stanzas with a refrain. The metre is the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün" pattern of the hezec family of aruz (quantitative metre); according to Kılıç's list there are only two murabbas in the divan in this pattern, the other being the third murabba. In the first stanza the four lines rhyme on "-at/-et": vuslat, 'işret, bî-şefkat, fürkat. The other stanzas use the rhymes "-ân oldum", "-oldı", "-etdür" and "-andı". The refrain is the line "Helâk itdi beni hecrün ne müşkil derd imiş fürkat". The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last stanza (fols. 66b-67a).
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The poem tells of the loss of a union. The first two stanzas recall the days when the poet attained the gathering of the "şâh-ı cihân" (shah of the world), reached for the cup of joy, sat royally and had his wish; the words bezm, câm, 'işret and bâde build a congruence of images (tenasüp) drawn from the wine gathering. When heaven breaks up this company, the poet falls weak. In the third stanza the cheek fading like an autumn leaf in the wind of separation is a simile. In the last stanza the heart burns like a candle, the extinguished lamp of the lodge of love is lit again, and the smoke of sighs dyes the heavens. In the phrase "göge boyandı" the word "gök" means both the sky and the colour blue; this double meaning is our own observation. "Söyinmiş" is the Old Anatolian Turkish form of "sönmüş" (gone out).
The second half of the refrain, "ne müşkil derd imiş fürkat", also occurs word for word in the opening couplet of the twelfth ghazal of the divan. Kılıç cites the couplets of that ghazal to show how often the words "hecr" and "fürkat" (separation) are used in Şâhî's poems.
Historical Context
Kılıç mentions the fourth stanza among the poems in which Bayezid addresses his father, Sultan Süleyman the Lawgiver, and reads it as the words of a son awaiting a letter from his father. According to him, Bayezid wrote many letters conveying his requests and pleas for pardon, both to avoid going from Kütahya to Amasya and while he was with the shah in Iran, and received no answer to most of them. The stanza's words about serving with the hand on the breast, a glance from the corner of the eye and being remembered now and then by letter support this reading. There is no sign in the text as to which of these two periods the poem belongs to. The phrase "şâh-ı cihân bezmi" in the first stanza may also be thought to describe the father's gathering; this 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 pp. 130-131, murabba no. 2 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fols. 66b, 67a); also p. 29 (metres) and pp. 31-32 (poems addressed to his father), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.
- Şerafettin Turan, "Bayezid, Şehzade", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 5, Istanbul 1992, pp. 230-231, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/bayezid-sehzade.
Online sources
