Original Persian Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Fe’ûlün

Turâ yâ Rab demî tâ’at ne-dârem
Be-ıslâh-ı nefs tâkat ne-dârem
Zi-dest-i nefs-i meyyâl ü hevâyî
Derîn mihnet serâ râhat ne-dârem

In English

1. My God, I have not for one moment (due) obedience to you; nor have I the strength to reform my self.

2. Because of the self that inclines to everything and follows its whims, I have no rest in this palace of trouble (the world).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The two-couplet Persian poem is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün fe'ûlün" pattern. The redif is "ne-dârem" (I do not have), and the rhyme is the "-at" sound in "tâ'at, tâkat, râhat". The two lines of the first couplet and the second line of the second couplet rhyme; the first line of the second couplet ("hevâyî") stands outside the rhyme. According to Kılıç's note, these poems are shown as "kıta" in Mustafa Çiçekler's edition of the Persian divançe; Kılıç, however, counts them as "nazm" on the evidence of their rhymes. That the first couplet rhymes like an opening couplet is where it differs from the kıt'a, which is written without an opening rhymed couplet. In Kılıç's survey of metres one nazm is counted among the Persian poems written in this pattern. In the edition there is no folio mark within the text of this poem.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem is a short münâcât (prayer of supplication) and tells of the conflict between the self and the servant of God. In the first couplet two shortcomings are set side by side: being unable to obey God as is due even for a moment, and lacking the strength to reform the self. The words "tâ'at" (obedience, worship) and "tâkat" (strength) are very close to each other in writing and sound; a play on sound (cinas) is formed between them, and the redif makes this closeness even more marked. This observation is ours. Kılıç renders the first line as "My God, I do not obey you for a moment"; the words "demî tâ'at ne-dârem" can also be understood as not having even a moment's obedience.

In the second couplet the self is described as "meyyâl" and "hevâyî": inclining to everything and following its whims. The world is "mihnet-serâ", a house of trouble, a palace of torment. The cause of unrest is not the world itself but the endless desires of the self. This thought accords with the mood of the poems asking for pardon near the end of the divan. Describing the order of the manuscript, Kılıç says that the divan ends "with ghazals, müfreds and nazms"; this short supplication is thus among the poems on the last pages of the manuscript. In the edition all three Persian nazms are built on sin, pardon and the self; the observation of this common ground is ours. The poem has no pen name, and there is no sign of the person to whom or the time at which it was written. Despite its brevity, the rhymes tâ'at, tâkat and râhat sum up in three steps the servant's debt to God, his own strength and his state in the world.

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 nazm no. 1 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225); footnote 221 (the poems shown as "kıta" in the Persian divançe counted as nazm by their rhymes), footnotes 222-223 (Turkish meanings of the couplets); also p. 27 (the manuscript ending with the nazms), p. 29 (survey of metres), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources