Original Persian Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Fe’ûlün

Zi-âhem sünbül-et tâ der-ham üftâd
Heme şûr u fiten der-’âlem üftâd
Be-sa’y u zûr hergiz ber-hîzem
Ki bâr-ı ‘ışk ber-men muhkem üftâd
Zi-dil ârâm u ez-ser ‘akl-ı mâ bürd
Hayâl-i zülf-i tu tâ hem-dem üftâd
Be-gird-i Ka’be-i kûyet sirişkem
Nazar kon hemçü âb-ı zemzem üftâd
Me-şev magrûr Şâhî ber-hazer bâş
Ez-ân sengî ki ber-câm-ı Cem üftâd

In English

1. Since your hyacinth hair was tangled (curled ringlet upon ringlet) by my sighs, all turmoil and sedition have fallen upon the world.

2. Neither by effort nor by force shall I ever rise from my place; for the burden of love has fallen firmly upon me.

3. Since the image of your tresses became our companion, it has carried off peace from our hearts and reason from our heads.

4. Look around the street of yours that is like the Kaaba: my tears have poured there like the water of Zamzam.

5. O Şâhî, do not be proud, beware; keep away from that stone which struck the cup of Jamshid.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The five-couplet Persian ghazal is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün fe'ûlün" pattern. The redif is "üftâd" (fell), and the rhyme is the "-em" sound in "der-ham, 'âlem, muhkem, hem-dem, zemzem, Cem". Kılıç counts the word "üftâd" among the redifs of the Persian ghazals. In the edition there is no folio mark within the text of this ghazal. The pattern has eleven syllables, and most lines keep this count. The first line of the second couplet ("Be-sa'y u zûr hergiz ber-hîzem"), however, stops at nine syllables, so it appears two syllables short of the metre. Moreover, "hergiz" (never) in the line calls for a negative verb; no negative suffix appears on the verb, while Kılıç renders the line negatively as "I shall never rise from my place". These two observations are ours; the text has not been altered.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In each couplet the redif "üftâd" tells of the falling of something different: sedition falls upon the world, the burden of love falls upon the lover, the image of the tresses falls in as a companion, tears fall around the Kaaba, and finally a stone falls upon the cup of Jamshid. In the opening couplet the lover's sigh scatters and curls the beloved's hyacinth hair; the tangle of the hair is tied to the turmoil of the whole world. This is a conceit of the kind called hüsn-i talil (poetic aetiology), which sets up a graceful link between cause and effect. In the second couplet the burden of love is so heavy that the lover, carrying it, cannot rise from his place. The fourth couplet is built on images of the pilgrimage: the beloved's street is likened to the Kaaba, and the tears poured there to the water of Zamzam. The mention of the Kaaba together with Zamzam is a congruence of images (tenasüp).

The closing couplet is a piece of advice. In divan poetry the cup of Jamshid is a cup that shows the world, a symbol of sovereignty and happiness; the stone that strikes it is a reminder that even the greatest rule can break in a moment. That the poet tells his own pen name, "Şâhî", not to be proud gains a further meaning in the mouth of a prince when the pen name is taken together with its sense of "royal, belonging to the shah"; this reading is ours. "Câm-ı Cem" occurs often in other poems of the divan as well; in Turkish Ghazals 109 and 110 the beloved's lip and word are preferred to the cup of Jamshid. 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 p. 157, Persian ghazal no. 6 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225); footnotes 157-161 (Turkish meanings of the couplets); also p. 29 (the redif "üftâd"), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources