Original Persian Text

Metre: Mef’ûlü Mefâ’îlü Mefâ’îlü Fe’ûlün

Ez-rûy-ı tu gîred basarem nûr hemîşe
Başed dilem ez-la’l-i tu mesrûr hemîşe
Her çend be-kurb-ı tu şevem sûy be-sad nâz
Ân bîh ki temâşâ konem ez-dûr hemîşe
Her câ ki nazar mî-konem ez-behr-i temâşâ
Ân-câ tu şevî nâzır u manzûr hemîşe
Pinhân şode budîm ez-în pîş be-küncî
Geştem be-gam-ı ‘ışk-ı tu meşhûr hemîşe
Ber-devlet-i în fânî vü ber-’ömr-i cevânî
Zinhâr me-şev Şâhî tu magrûr hemîşe

In English

1. My eye always takes light from your face; my heart is always joyful through your ruby lip.

2. Though I turn with a hundred coquetries to draw near you, the best is always to watch from afar.

3. Wherever I look in order to watch, there the one who looks and the one looked at are always you.

4. Before this we had hidden ourselves in a corner; through the grief of your love I have always been (on every tongue,) famous.

5. O Şâhî, never be proud of this transient fortune and of the life of youth.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The five-couplet Persian ghazal is written in the "mef'ûlü mefâ'îlü mefâ'îlü fe'ûlün" pattern. The redif is "hemîşe" (always), and the rhyme is the "-ûr" sound in "nûr, mesrûr, dûr, manzûr, meşhûr, magrûr". Kılıç counts the word "hemîşe" among the redifs of the Persian ghazals. In the edition the folio mark [95b] stands at the end of the second couplet. In the fourth couplet the first line is built in the first person plural ("budîm", we had hidden) and the second line in the first person singular ("geştem", I became).

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first two couplets of the ghazal choose between nearness and distance. The eye takes light from the face, the heart joy from the lip; but the lover finds it better to watch from afar than to approach with a hundred coquetries. The third couplet is the deepest couplet of the ghazal in thought: wherever the lover looks, there the one who looks and the one looked at is the beloved. "Nâzır" (the one looking) and "manzûr" (the one looked at) are two words from the same root, and this relation between them is the figure called iştikak (derivation). The couplet recalls a mystical view in which the seer and the seen become one; Kılıç too says that traces of mystical love can be found in the last couplet of another ghazal. The observation of the mystical association in this couplet is ours. The fourth couplet tells how a love kept secret finally becomes known to all; there is an antithesis (tezat) between "pinhân" (hidden) and "meşhûr" (famous).

The closing couplet suddenly passes from the theme of love to a piece of advice. The poet tells his own pen name not to trust in transient fortune and the life of youth. Kılıç notes that Bayezid's divan contains couplets of advice on the transience of the world and on not trusting crown, throne and sovereignty, and gives as an example the line "Tâc u taht u saltanat aldanma fânîdür gönül" (Crown, throne and sovereignty, do not be deceived, they are transient, O heart) from Turkish Ghazal 87. This closing couplet is a Persian expression of the same thought. That the word "devlet" means both fortune and sovereignty gives the couplet a special weight in the mouth of a prince. 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 pp. 162-163, Persian ghazal no. 16 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 95b); footnotes 211-215 (Turkish meanings of the couplets); also p. 29 (the redif "hemîşe"), p. 41 (couplets of advice on the transience of the world and distrust of sovereignty), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources