Original Persian Text

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

Ey pâdişâh-ı bahr u ber ü kâm-kâr-ı men
Me’gzâr derîn mihnet ü gam rûzgâr-ı men
Hergiz be-hâl-i bende nazar çün ne-mî-konî
Ey şâh-ı ser-firâz u sitemkâr yâr-ı men
Kadr-i adû-yı tu ber-efrâhtî ez-felek vezin
Bâ-mekr-i û be-hâk zedî i’tibâr-ı men
Feryâd u âh-ı men ki be-gûşet ne-mî-resed
Ber-çarh reft nâle vü feryâd u zâr-ı men
Şâhî zi-mekr ü hîle-i a’dâ çi gam bûd
Ger lutf-ı pâdişâh şeved gam-güsâr-ı men

In English

1. O sultan of sea and land, my sultan who grants my desire, do not leave my days in this trouble and grief.

2. O my lofty and reproachful friend and shah, you never look upon the state of your servant.

3. You raised the worth of your enemy above the heavens; through his trickery you struck my standing to the ground.

4. My cry and my sigh do not reach your ear; yet my moaning, my crying and my lament have risen to the sky.

5. O Şâhî, if the favour of the sultan becomes the friend who dispels my grief, what grief is there from the guile and snares of enemies.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The five-couplet Persian ghazal is written in the "mef'ûlü fâ'ilâtü mefâ'îlü fâ'ilün" pattern. The redif is "-ı men" (my), and the rhyme is the "-âr" sound in "kâm-kâr, rûzgâr, yâr, i'tibâr, zâr, gam-güsâr". Metre, redif and rhyme sound are the same as in Persian Ghazal 14; the rhymes "yâr" and "i'tibâr" occur in both ghazals. In the edition the folio mark [95a] stands next to the number of the ghazal. Kılıç notes that the metre of the first line of the third couplet is faulty.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

From beginning to end the language of the ghazal addresses a ruler. In the opening couplet the one addressed is "pâdişâh-ı bahr u ber", the sultan of sea and land; in the second couplet he is called "şâh-ı ser-firâz" (lofty shah) and "sitemkâr yâr" (reproachful friend), and in the last couplet again "pâdişâh". The lover introduces himself as "bende" (servant). In divan poetry it is customary to call the beloved a sultan; but the title of ruler of sea and land, and phrases such as raising the worth of the enemy and lowering one's standing through trickery, bring this poem closer to a letter of reproach than to a love ghazal. In the third couplet the contrast between "felek" (the heavens) and "hâk" (earth) places the rise of one beside the fall of the other. The fourth couplet is an antithesis (tezat): the lament reaches the sky but does not reach the ear of the sultan close at hand.

Historical Context

Kılıç does not discuss this ghazal separately. He does write, however, that one function of hasb-i hâl poems was to voice feelings and thoughts that could not be said directly to the one addressed, that is, to the sultan, and he shows that in many of his poems Bayezid addresses his father. According to Kılıç's account of his life, since the Nakhchivan campaign his father's favour towards Selim had grown, while Bayezid's position had caused Süleyman concern. Read with this information, the closing couplet sets the favour of the sultan against the guile and snares of the "a'dâ", the enemies; the "enemy" whose worth was raised above the heavens in the third couplet can also be thought of as Selim. This reading is ours, and no name occurs in the poem. The year in which the poem was written is also unknown.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 162, Persian ghazal no. 15 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 95a); footnotes 205-210 (line with faulty metre, Turkish meanings of the couplets); also p. 10 (the father's growing favour towards Selim after the Nakhchivan campaign), p. 30 (the function of hasb-i hâl poems in saying what could not be said to the sultan), p. 32 (poems addressed to the father), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources