Original Persian Text

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

Z’âdemî hergiz ne-zâyed çün tu tıfl-ı nâzenîn
Ber-kemâl-i Hâlik-i û sad-hezârân âferîn
Bûse-i la’let men ez-cüllâb-ı şîrîn yâftem
Zevk-i ân leb râ ne sükker mâned ü ne âb-gîn
Şûr u şer gamze-i zülf-i turâ dîdem zi-bîm
Sâhtem vird-i zebân va’llâhü hayrü’l-hâfızîn
Ger peder rıdvân u mâder hûr bâşed sâlehâ
Çün tu ferzend-i perî-rûyî ne-yâyed ber-zemîn
Şâhiyet râ bûse dih zâyi’ ne-bâşed bahr-i û
Hod tu dânî lâ-yudî’u’llâhe muhsinîn

In English

1. No child as delicate as you is ever born of mankind; a hundred thousand bravos to the perfection of the one who created you.

2. I found the kiss of your ruby lip to be a sweet sherbet; before the taste of that lip neither sugar nor the drink in the cup remained. (Kılıç takes the second line as "it remained neither in sugar nor in honey".)

3. I saw the turmoil and mischief of your glance and your tresses; from fear I made the words "God is the best of protectors" the litany of my tongue.

4. Were the father Rıdvan (the keeper of paradise) and the mother a houri, for years no fairy-faced child like you would come upon the earth.

5. Give your Şâhî a kiss; what you give for his sake will not be lost; you yourself know that God does not let the (reward of the) doers of good be lost.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The five-couplet Persian ghazal is written in the "fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilâtün fâ'ilün" pattern. It has no redif; the rhyme is the "-în" sound in "nâzenîn, âferîn, âb-gîn, hâfızîn, zemîn, muhsinîn". Two of the rhyme words are Arabic, and the second lines of the third and fifth couplets each end with an Arabic phrase. Kılıç explains the phrase of the last line with verse 115 of the sura Hûd: "Be patient, for God surely does not let the reward of those who do good be lost." In the line the words of the verse are shortened to fit the metre. In the edition there is no folio mark within the text of this ghazal.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal calls the beloved a "tıfl" and a "ferzend", a child and an offspring, and ties its praise to her creation. The opening couplet says "bravo" to the power that created such a beauty; the fourth couplet continues the same thought with an exaggeration: even if her father were Rıdvan, the keeper of paradise, and her mother a houri, no fairy-faced child like her would come upon the earth. Rıdvan, houri and fairy form a congruence of images (tenasüp). In the second couplet the lip surpasses sherbet and sugar in sweetness. The word "âb-gîn" at the end of the line means cup, glass and the drink in it; Kılıç, however, renders the word as "honey". This rendering suggests that another word meaning honey in the rhyme position, for example "engübîn", may have been read; this possibility is ours.

In the third couplet, faced with the turmoil of glance and tresses, the lover takes refuge in a phrase of prayer recited for protection from harm. The construction "gamze-i zülf" in the edition is unusual; reading the two words together with the conjunction "ü" (and) gives an easier meaning. This too is our reading. The closing couplet supports the request for a kiss with the words of a Quranic verse: the reward of goodness is not lost, God does not let the reward of those who do good be lost. The use of a religious phrase so close to the language of love gives the poem an air of graceful jest. In this ghazal two couplets, the third and the fifth, close with an Arabic formula, and this gives the poem a colouring that interweaves prayer and love. There is no sign in the poem of the person to whom 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 pp. 159-160, Persian ghazal no. 11 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225); footnotes 183-187 (Turkish meanings of the couplets; the Arabic phrase of the last line and Hûd 11:115), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources