Original Persian Text

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

Ey ber-ser-i iklîm-i hüsn zıll-i İlâhî
Ez-cevr-i tu tâ key keşem în nâle vü âhî
Cüz mihr-i tu men cürm-i diger hîç ne-dârem
Bî-çâre-i hod râ me-kûş ez-behr-i günâhî
Bî-demdeme-i ‘ışk füsûn-est ü fesâne
În tantana-i saltanat u satvet-i Şâhî
Bî-ebr nazar hûb buved mihr-i cihân râ
Ey bâd ber-efrâz zi-ruh zülf-i siyâhî
Z’endûh-ı cihân bî-mey ü mahbûb ne-tüvân rest
Bî-bâde vü şâhid me-nişîn gam-zede Şâhî

In English

1. O you who are the shadow of God over the realm of beauty, how long shall I endure this moaning and sighing from your cruelty.

2. I have no other guilt but love for you; do not kill your own helpless one for a single sin.

3. Without the fervour of love this clamour of sovereignty and royal majesty is nothing but a spell and a fable.

4. It is good to look upon the sun of the world when it is without cloud; O wind, lift that black tress from (the beloved's) cheek.

5. One cannot escape the sorrow of the world without wine and the beloved; O grieving Şâhî, do not sit without wine and without a beauty.

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. It has no redif; the rhyme is the "-âhî" sound in "İlâhî, âhî, günâhî, Şâhî, siyâhî, Şâhî". In the edition there is no folio mark within the text of this ghazal. In the edition it is the last of the Persian ghazals. The word "Şâhî" serves twice as rhyme, in the third and fifth couplets, but with two different meanings: in the third couplet "satvet-i şâhî" means royal majesty, while in the fifth it is the poet's pen name.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet calls the beloved "zıll-i İlâhî", the shadow of God on earth. This title is used for rulers in the Ottoman and Islamic tradition of statecraft; here it is given to the beloved, the ruler of the realm of beauty. In the same couplet a congruence of images (tenasüp) is formed between "iklîm-i hüsn" (the realm of beauty) and "zıll-i İlâhî". In the second couplet the lover's only guilt is love; the image of a ruler punishing his servant for a crime is carried over into the language of love.

The third couplet is the centre of the ghazal's thought: without the fervour of love the clamour of sovereignty and royal majesty is a fable. The word "Şâhî" in the rhyme position means here "royal, belonging to the shah"; but the reader also hears it as the poet's pen name. The line thus also suggests the meaning "the sovereignty and majesty of Şâhî". This double meaning is a double entendre (tevriye). That a prince should count sovereignty a fable beside love is also striking; this reading is ours. In the fourth couplet the beloved's cheek is likened to the sun that lights the world, and her black tress to the cloud that covers this sun; the wind is asked to lift the tress. The closing couplet ends with a piece of libertine (rindâne) advice: one escapes the sorrow of the world only with wine and the beloved. "Bâde" (wine) and "şâhid" (beauty) are a well-known pair of divan poetry. That the lover who moans at cruelty in the opening couplet advises in the closing couplet that sorrow be dispelled with wine and a beauty shows that the ghazal makes a turn within itself. 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. 163, Persian ghazal no. 17 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225); footnotes 216-220 (Turkish meanings of the couplets); also p. 29 (survey of metres), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources