Original Persian Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Fe’ûlün

Zi-dil-ârâm burdî v’ez serem hûş
Çi kerdî ey büt-i sîmîn binâ-gûş
Dil ü dîn râ be-zülfeyn-i tu bâzem
Eger yek şeb konem kaddet der-âgûş
Be-bâd-ı şevket ey ârâm-ı dilhâ
Be-sân-ı bahr-ı cûşân mî-zenem cûş
Eger ez-câm-ı la’let cür’a-nûşem
Konem endûh-ı ‘âlem râ ferâmûş
Terahhum kon be-hâl-i şîfte Şâhî
Merân ez-sâye ey serv-i kabâ-pûş

In English

1. You have taken peace from my heart and reason from my head; O idol with silver ears (O fair one), what have you done?

2. If one night I take your stature in my arms, I shall lose (gamble away) my heart and my faith to your two tresses.

3. O peace of hearts, with the wind of longing for you I surge like a raging sea.

4. If I drink a sip from the cup of your ruby lip, I shall forget all the sorrow of the world.

5. Have pity on the enamoured state of Şâhî; O cypress clad in a kaftan, do not drive him from your shade.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The five-couplet Persian ghazal is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün fe'ûlün" pattern. It has no redif; the rhyme is the "-ûş" sound in "hûş, gûş, âgûş, cûş, ferâmûş, pûş". Since by Kılıç's count thirteen of the Persian ghazals have a redif, it is one of the four ghazals without a redif. In the edition the folio mark [93b] stands at the end of the second couplet. According to Kılıç's survey of metres, four of the Persian ghazals are written in this pattern.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is a short, fluent love poem. In the opening couplet the beloved is "büt-i sîmîn binâ-gûş", an idol whose earlobes are white as silver. The calling of a beauty "büt" (idol) in divan poetry means that she is beautiful enough to be worshipped like an idol and that she takes the lover's faith from him. The second couplet continues this thought: to be able to embrace the beloved for one night, the lover is willing to lose his heart and his faith to her two tresses. The verb "bâzem" means I play, I lose, and calls up the image of gambling; Kılıç renders the word as "I give". The blackness and faithlessness of the tresses recall the familiar opposition between faith and tresses.

There is a fine contrast between the opening couplet and the third. In the opening couplet the beloved has carried off "ârâm" (peace) from the heart; in the third couplet she is addressed as "ârâm-ı dilhâ", the peace of hearts. The one who takes peace away and peace itself are the same person; this observation is ours. In the same couplet the words wind, sea and surging form a congruence of images (tenasüp). In the fourth couplet the lip is likened to a cup and the kiss to a sip of wine; this sip makes one forget all the sorrow of the world. The closing couplet rests on the image of the cypress. The beloved is likened to a cypress swaying in her kaftan; the lover is one who wishes to stand in the shade of this cypress. To wish not to be driven from the cypress's shade is one of the familiar expressions in divan poetry of the desire to stay near the beloved. There is no sign in the poem of the person to whom or the time at which it was written.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 159, Persian ghazal no. 10 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 93b); footnotes 178-182 (Turkish meanings of the couplets); also p. 29 (survey of metres), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources