Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Dem mi var kim sînemi tîg-i elemle dilmezem
Yâ çeküp cân cübbesini pâre pâre kılmazam
Eşk-i çeşmüm rûy-ı zerdüm kanla yusun silmezem
Bir vefâsuz yâr sevdüm n’ola hâlüm bilmezem
Geh salar berg-i semen üzre saçın sünbül gibi
Gâh olur ‘arz-ı cemâl eyler açılur gül gibi
Gâh olur yüzüme bakmaz inledür bülbül gibi
Bir vefâsuz yâr sevdüm n’ola hâlüm bilmezem
Niçe bir bu âteş-i hasretle yanam yakılam
Mümkin olmadı ki derd-i hecre bir çâre kılam
Kısmet-i rûz-ı ezelmiş bana bu derd ü elem
Bir vefâsuz yâr sevdüm n’ola hâlüm bilmezem
Eşk-i çeşmüm gibi gözden saldı ben şeydâsını
Kıldı pinhân gözlerümden kâmet-i bâlâsını
Öldürürse cevr ile terk eylemem sevdâsını
Bir vefâsuz yâr sevdüm n’ola hâlüm bilmezem
Zülfünün sevdâsını bend-i dil ü cân eyledüm
‘Aklumı câm-ı lebiyle mest ü hayrân eyledüm
Şöhret-i ‘ışkı ki kendüm hâlka destân eyledüm
Bir vefâsuz yâr sevdüm n’ola hâlüm bilmezem
Kâşki evvel senünle olmasaydum âşinâ
Gönlümüz almak mıdı n’eydi bize evvel vefâ
Lutfuna aldanmak olmaz pür-cefâsın pür-cefâ
Bir vefâsuz yar sevdüm n’ola hâlüm bilmezem
Gamzesi bin kerre kanun dökmege kılsa heves
Gam degül ‘Îsâ gibi olursa ger feryâd-res
Ey gönül emre mutî’ ol hükm anundur sözi kes
Bir vefâsuz yâr sevdüm n’ola hâlüm bilmezem
Gösterelden leylî-i zülfin bana âh ol perî
Olmışam Mecnûn-veş dünyâ vü ‘ukbâdan beri
Şöyle sevmeklük gerek Şâhî sevince dil-beri
Bir vefâsuz yâr sevdüm n’ola hâlüm bilmezem

In English

1. Is there a moment when I do not split my breast with the sword of sorrow, or pull at the robe of my soul and tear it to pieces? Let the tears of my eyes wash my yellowed face with blood, I will not wipe them. I have loved a faithless beloved; is it any wonder if I am beside myself?

2. At times she lets her hair fall like hyacinth over the jasmine petal; at times she shows her face and opens like a rose; at times she does not look at me and makes me moan like a nightingale. I have loved a faithless beloved; is it any wonder if I am beside myself?

3. How long shall I burn and be consumed in this fire of longing; it has not been possible for me to find a cure for the pain of separation. This pain and sorrow were my lot from the day of pre-eternity. I have loved a faithless beloved; is it any wonder if I am beside myself?

4. Like the tears of my eyes, she let this lovesick one of hers fall from her eyes; she hid her lofty stature from my sight. Even if she kills me with cruelty, I will not give up my love for her. I have loved a faithless beloved; is it any wonder if I am beside myself?

5. I made the passion for her lock the bond of heart and soul; I made my mind drunk and bewildered with the cup of her lips; with the fame of her love I made myself a tale among the people. I have loved a faithless beloved; is it any wonder if I am beside myself?

6. If only I had not come to know you in the first place; was your early faithfulness only to win our hearts, or what was it? One must not be deceived by your kindness; you are full of cruelty, full of cruelty. I have loved a faithless beloved; is it any wonder if I am beside myself?

7. Even if her glance desires a thousand times to shed my blood, it is no grief if one comes to my aid like Jesus. O heart, obey the command, the decree is hers; say no more. I have loved a faithless beloved; is it any wonder if I am beside myself?

8. Alas, since that fairy showed me the Leylâ (the night) of her lock, I have become like Mecnun, free of this world and the next. O Şâhî, when one loves a beloved, this is how one must love. I have loved a faithless beloved; is it any wonder if I am beside myself?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a murabba of eight 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 "-lmezem": dilmezem, kılmazam, silmezem, bilmezem. The other stanzas use "-ül" with the redif (refrain word) "gibi" (sünbül, gül, bülbül), "-âsını", "-ân eyledüm", "-â" (âşinâ, vefâ, cefâ), "-es" and "-erî". In the third stanza the word "elem", rhymed with "yakılam" and "kılam", does not fully match in sound; it is a weak rhyme. The refrain is the line "Bir vefâsuz yâr sevdüm n'ola hâlüm bilmezem"; in the sixth stanza it is printed in the edition as "yar" without the circumflex. The word "hâlka" in the fifth stanza is also read in context as "halka" (to the people). The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last stanza (fol. 69a). It is not known to whom the poem was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem tells how loving a faithless beloved puts the lover beside himself. Kılıç notes that the divan contains a few poems about beauties and love, in which the poet usually complains of the faithlessness of beauties and of the state to which love reduces a man; this murabba is a clear example of that kind. The second stanza presents the beloved's changing behaviour in three pictures through the repetition "geh ... gâh olur ... gâh olur" (at times ... at times ... at times): the hyacinth of hair let fall over the face, the opening rose and the nightingale who makes the lover moan. Jasmine, hyacinth, rose and nightingale build a garden congruence of images (tenasüp).

In the fourth stanza the phrase "letting fall from the eyes like the tears of my eyes" is both a simile and a play on the idiom "gözden düşmek" (to fall from favour). In the seventh stanza the glance wishes to shed the lover's blood, but if a helper who raises the dead like Jesus is at hand, this is no grief; although the poem does not say so openly, in divan poetry this life-giving breath is attributed to the beloved's lips. In the same stanza the heart is called to submit to the beloved's decree. In the last stanza the phrase "leylî-i zülf" recalls both Leylâ and "leyl", the night; the black lock is likened to night, and that is why the lover becomes Mecnun. In "dünyâ vü 'ukbâdan berî" the word "berî" can be read both as "beri" (since) and as "free, delivered"; this observation is our own. The poem is brought to a conclusion with the line "şöyle sevmeklük gerek" (this is how one must love).

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book pp. 132-133, murabba no. 5 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 69a); also p. 40 (poems on beauties and love), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources