Original Persian Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Fe’ûlün

Be-dergâh-ı tu üftâdem bezârî
Tu hâşâ red konî mahrûm dârî

In English

1. Lamenting (in a wretched state) I have fallen at your court; God forbid that you should turn (me) back and keep me deprived.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The sixth Persian single couplet is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün fe'ûlün" pattern. There is no folio mark in the edition; the couplet follows the fifth single couplet, marked [96a]. The couplet is musarra' (both lines rhyme): "bezârî" and "dârî" rhyme, both words ending in the sound "-ârî". The word "bezârî" at the end of the first line is read as "be-zârî": the particle "be" (with) and "zârî" (lament, weeping). The rhyme is thus formed between "zârî" and "dârî" (you keep).

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The couplet continues the image of the door from the previous single couplet. In the first line the servant or lover has "fallen" at the court: "üftâdem" describes both falling to the ground and falling at someone's door to take refuge. "Be-zârî" (lamenting) sets the manner of this fall. Kılıç renders the couplet as "I have fallen at your court in a wretched state. God forbid that you should deprive me (of your door)"; we have brought forward the sense of "lament, weeping" in the word "zârî". It is striking that the second line begins with "hâşâ". "Hâşâ" is an expression of seeking refuge in God from something: "may such a thing not be, it cannot be". Even as he mentions the possibility of being rejected, the servant meets it with "hâşâ" and thereby makes rejection itself unthinkable. "Red konî" (you turn back) and "mahrûm dârî" (you keep deprived) voice a fear in two stages: first being turned away from the door, then being wholly bereft of grace. In the couplet the words "dergâh" (court), "üftâde" (fallen) and "mahrûm" (deprived) form a tenasüp (congruence of images) of door and refuge.

Historical Context

The same turn of phrase occurs in Şâhî's second Persian nazm: "Tu hâşâ ki rânî merâ der-cahîm" (God forbid that you should drive me into hell). In both couplets a line beginning with "Tu hâşâ" presents God's rejection of his servant as unthinkable. In the third mesnevi too, the same fear of deprivation is voiced in the couplet "Revâ mı pâdişâhum hazretünden / Ki mahrûm ola Şâhî himmetünden" (Is it fitting, my sovereign, that Şâhî be deprived of your favour?). These links are our own observation; Kılıç does not connect these texts. There is no information on the date of the couplet.

Bibliography

  • Filiz Kılıç (ed.), Şâhî Dîvânı (Şehzâde Bâyezîd), Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2018, e-book p. 165, Persian single couplet no. 6 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Efendi, Manzum Eserler 225), note 234 (Turkish meaning of the couplet); also p. 164 (Persian nazm no. 2, note 225), p. 153 (mesnevi no. 3), https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/59394,sahi-divanipdf.pdf.

Online sources