Original Persian Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Fe’ûlün

Nihâdem rû be-pîş-i bârgâhet
Zi men tevbe zi tu afv u inâyet

In English

1. I have laid my face before your exalted court; from me repentance, from you pardon and grace.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The second Persian single couplet is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün fe'ûlün" pattern. In the edition the folio mark [90b] stands beside the number. According to Kılıç's description, in the manuscript the Turkish ghazals are followed by two mesnevis, three ghazals and one more mesnevi; the mark [90b] also occurs within the third mesnevi. In the manuscript this single couplet bears the same leaf number as the last mesnevi. The two lines end with the words "bârgâhet" and "inâyet". The "-et" of "bârgâhet" is the Persian pronominal suffix meaning "your"; since the rhyme rests on the sound shared by this suffix and the last syllable of "inâyet", it is weak. This assessment is our own.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first line describes a movement: "rû nihâden" (to lay the face) means both to turn one's face in a direction and to rub one's face on the ground, to fall in prostration. "Bârgâh" means a ruler's pavilion or audience hall; here it is used for God's exalted presence. The servant is thus pictured as a subject coming into the presence of a sovereign. Kılıç renders this line as "I have fallen down before your presence". The second line has no verb and consists of two short halves: "zi men tevbe" (from me repentance) and "zi tu afv u inâyet" (from you pardon and grace). "Men" (I) and "tu" (you), "tevbe" (repentance) and "afv" (pardon) answer each other; this mutual arrangement creates a balance close to the figure of mukabele (parallel contrast). The relation between servant and God is shown as the two sides of an exchange: repentance from the servant, forgiveness from God. The word "inâyet" contains, beyond pardon, a request for help and protection. With the words "rû" (face), "bârgâh" (court) and "pîş" (front) the couplet builds a scene of audience.

Historical Context

The third mesnevi, which in the manuscript stands on the same leaf [90b], is a supplication asking for pardon on the Day of Judgement, and in its seventh couplet it uses the same word: "Kara yüzüm getürdüm bâr-gâha" (I have brought my black face to the court). In the mesnevi the servant brings his black face to the court; in this single couplet he lays his face before the court. These two texts, standing on the same leaf and built on the same word and the same image of the face, suggest that the poet treated the subject of pardon in Turkish and Persian one after the other. This connection is our own observation. Kılıç thinks that the ghazal with the refrain "afv" at the end of the divan was probably written in Iran; the date of this single couplet, however, is not stated in the edition.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 164, Persian single couplet no. 2 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225, fol. 90b), note 230 (Turkish meaning of the couplet); also p. 27 (arrangement of the divan), p. 34 (poems of pardon), p. 153 (mesnevi no. 3), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources