Şehzade Korkut (Prince Korkut) is remembered among the sons of Bayezid II as much for his books, his instruments and his pen as for his part in the struggle for the throne. In his poems he used the pen name (mahlas) Harîmî, and as perhaps the only member of the Ottoman dynasty to leave written works beyond poetry he holds a place of his own. That he was born in Amasya while his father was governor of the sanjak is stated plainly both in Hüsameddin's Amasya Tarihi and in his entry in the dictionary of names in Turkish literature. Hüsameddin counts him among the poets of Amasya and records briefly: "He is of Amasya. He is the prince of Sultan Bayezid II who was born in Amasya."

His poetry did not escape the notice of the biographers of poets. Sehî, Latîfî, Kınalızâde and Âşık Çelebi all mention him, and several quote his couplets. The divan that the biographers called "complete" is no longer extant. What has come down to us is a small collection, a divançe, assembled by Ali Emîrî Efendi from scattered poems. The account below keeps his life brief and gives its weight to his poetry, his works and the poems that can be read today. The details of his life are told in his biography in the Princes section.

His Life and Years in Amasya

His year of birth is disputed in the sources. Hüsameddin, in the section where he narrates the years of Bayezid's governorship of Amasya in order, lists the events of the year 874 and says: "Prince Sultan Korkud was born this year." The dictionary of names in Turkish literature likewise gives 874/1469-70 and Amasya. In the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, however, Feridun Emecen notes that he is said to have been born in Amasya in 872 (1467) or 874 (1469), but that the sources contain no explicit record of his birth year. In one of his works he writes his name as Ebülhayr Mehmed Korkut, while in official documents he uses only the name Korkut.

He spent his childhood in the princely palace at Amasya. It is recorded that he was introduced to calligraphy in this city. According to information going back to Müstakimzâde's Tuhfe-i Hattâtîn, he took calligraphy lessons as a small child in Amasya from Şeyh Hamdullah Efendi. Şeyh Hamdullah, himself a native of Amasya, was in those years also Bayezid's calligraphy teacher there. In 1479, at the wish of his grandfather Mehmed II (the Conqueror), he was sent to Istanbul with his brothers to be circumcised. The dictionary of names in Turkish literature writes that he received his first education in Istanbul at his grandfather's side. When Mehmed II died in 1481, Grand Vizier İshak Paşa placed him on the throne as regent until his father arrived from Amasya. Because the pay of the Janissaries was raised during it, this short regency would be remembered in later years and would feed Korkut's hopes of the throne.

The sources differ over when he was first sent to a sanjak. Emecen, relying on Kemalpaşazâde and on archival records, writes that Korkut was sent to Manisa in Zilkade 888 (December 1483). Hüsameddin, by contrast, after describing the circumcision festivities held in 896 for the sons of Şehzade Ahmed, says that of the princes then in Amasya, Selim was sent as governor to Trabzon, Şehinşah to Karaman, Alemşah to Menteşe and Korkut to Saruhan, leaving Ahmed alone in Amasya. Hüsameddin's date does not agree with the archival documents. The same work, however, contains another record showing that Korkut kept his tie with Amasya circles in these years: the Amasya scholar İbrâhim Efendi, known as Koca Emîr, went to Manisa in 896 as tutor to Prince Korkut, and a few years later left the post and returned to Amasya, to the Hüseyniye Madrasa.

The rest of Korkut's life was spent far from Amasya, between Manisa, Antalya and Egypt. His transfer from Manisa to Antalya in early 1502 owed something to the influence of his elder brother Şehzade Ahmed, who was sanjak governor in Amasya. In 1509 he went to Egypt intending the pilgrimage and returned fourteen months later. After Selim came to the throne in 1512 he returned to Manisa. When Selim marched against him he fled, was captured in a cave and was strangled in March 1513. His body was buried in Bursa, in the Tomb (türbe) of Orhan Gazi. The place of his death is given in the TDV as near the town of Eğrigöz (Emet), and in the dictionary of names in Turkish literature as Eğriboz. The year of death, too, appears as 919/1513 in the one and 918/1512-13 in the other. Emecen bases the date of death on the inventory of his effects (muhallefât defteri) dated 5 Muharrem 919 (13 March 1513).

His Works

All of Korkut's known works, apart from his divançe, are in Arabic. Emecen characterises them mostly as books on the religious sciences, ethics and counsel. This is what makes him perhaps the only member of the dynasty with written works outside poetry. The works named in the sources are the following:

  • Dîvânçe. It is preserved in the Millet Library, Ali Emîrî collection, Verse Works no. 104. It contains 52 ghazals (gazel), a two-couplet poem in Arabic and two Turkish couplets. It was compiled by Ali Emîrî Efendi in the hijri year 1334. A microfilm exists in the National Library in Ankara. In the TDV entry the shelf number appears as "no. 1040". Since all the other sources give 104, this number is probably a misprint. This is not certain.
  • Da'vetü'n-nefsi't-tâliha ile'l-a'mâli's-sâliha (Süleymaniye, Ayasofya no. 1763). It is also known as Kitâbü Harîmî fi't-tasavvuf. He wrote this book of 262 folios in 1508, in the years when he had withdrawn into seclusion, and presented it to his father. It contains poems in Arabic, Persian and Turkish. Some of his own Turkish poems are on fols. 178b-180a, and the poems he took from Yûnus Emre on fols. 185b-186a. Poems by Hâtemî, Neşet, Abdülkerîm and Şeyh Baba Yûsuf are also included.
  • Vesîletü'l-ahbâb (Ayasofya no. 3529). It was completed in Cairo. It explains to his father the reason for his going to Egypt. It contains hadiths on the merits of the pilgrimage, obedience to parents and keeping one's word.
  • Kitâb bi-halli işkâli'l-efkâr fî hilli emvâli'l-küffâr (Ayasofya no. 1142). It is a treatise of jurisprudence on prisoners of war and the division of booty.
  • Şerhu elfâzi'l-küfr (Ayasofya no. 2289). It is also called Hâfızü'l-insân 'an lâfızi'l-îmân. Its subject is faith, unbelief and apostasy.
  • Korkudiyye. Sehî says that he wrote a collection of legal opinions (fetva) by this name and adds that the scholars approved of it. Latîfî too speaks of an Arabic book of fetvas. In Kâtip Çelebi the title appears as Fetâvâ-yı Korkudiyye. No copy is known today.
  • Marginal notes on the Şerh-i Mevâkıf. Kınalızâde says that he saw notes written by the prince in his own hand in a copy of Cürcânî's Şerhu'l-Mevâkıf. In Nuruosmaniye no. 4024 there are notes added to a commentary by someone with the pen name Harîmî, together with Turkish poems written under the same pen name. Korkut's name does not appear there. They have been attributed to him on the strength of the pen name alone.

The full divan mentioned by the biographers is lost. Latîfî and Kınalızâde say that he had a "complete" and "arranged" divan. Whether today's divançe is part of that divan or a set of poems gathered from other anthologies is unknown. Emecen writes that the extant divan came into being mainly through Ali Emîrî's bringing together the verse attributed to him. Filiz Kılıç introduced the divançe in an article in 1996 and published selections from it. Emine Atmaca's complete edition, consisting of a study of its orthography, phonology and morphology, the text, a glossary and a facsimile, was printed in Konya in 2020. This edition is not available online; all the poems of the divançe are given on separate pages in this section, based on the text in Kılıç's article. The examples below are limited to poems quoted in the biographical anthologies and in the article.

Pervâne Bey's Mecmû'a-i Nezâ'ir and Edirneli Nazmî's Mecma'u'n-Nezâ'ir show that 29 of Harîmî's poems were written as response poems (nazire) to poems by other poets. The poets he took as models include Şâhidî, Nizâmî, Ahmed Paşa, Hâfî-i Edirnevî, Ahmedî, Necâtî, Cezerîzâde Kasım Paşa, Çâkerî Sinan Bey, Şâmî, Şeyhî, Vasfî Çelebi, Mestî, Zülâlî and Sücûdî. Cezerîzâde Kasım Paşa, on this list, was a statesman and poet appointed by Mehmed II as treasurer (defterdar) to Şehzade Bayezid in the sanjak of Amasya. That the prince wrote response poems to the verse of a circle he had known at a young age suggests that the literary atmosphere of the Amasya court reached as far as him. This is an inference; the sources draw no such connection.

His Literary Persona

The biographers mention Korkut first as a scholar and then as a poet. In the Heşt-Bihişt Sehî says of him "'Âlim ü fâzıl zû-fünûn pâdişâh idi. Anuñ kemâlâtına nihâyet yoḳ", that is, he was a learned, virtuous ruler versed in many sciences, and there was no end to his accomplishments. He then lists the book of fetvas, his knowledge of music and the instrument he invented. Amid so much learning and virtue, he adds, "şi'ir dimege mâyil idi", he was inclined to compose poetry as well. Sehî places him as the last poet of the second rank, the one devoted to sultan poets, after his father and grandfather.

Latîfî is more detailed. In his view Korkut stood out among the Ottoman princes for learning and perfection and deserved to be counted among the great scholars. "Nice ḳaṭâr-ı cemel cebel-timsâl kitâbḫânesin ... çekerdi", he says, that is, many camel trains carried his mountain-like library. His door was a gathering place for poets and for eloquent and learned men. He honoured each according to his worth and did not raise the unworthy. Of his poetry Latîfî says "fenn-i şi'rde daḫı mükemmel Dîvânı ve ḫoş-âyende naẓmı ve nâzük beyânı vardur": in poetry, too, he had a complete divan, pleasing verse and a refined manner of expression.

Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi places Korkut at the head of the second section of his anthology, devoted to prince poets, and introduces him as Bayezid's "ferzend-i ekber", his eldest son. This phrase does not fit the known chronology, since Şehzade Ahmed was older than him. Kınalızâde recounts his mastery of music in a long story told in his father's gatherings. The famous kemançe master Zeynelâbidîn, who came from Iran, had first spent some time with Şehzade Ahmed, and Korkut, hearing of his fame, asked his elder brother for him. Thinking that the people of Rum would not understand the subtleties of the instrument, the master played a careless suite before the prince, whereupon Korkut took up his own invention, the instrument called "rûh-efzâ", and played such a suite that the master was bent double with shame. Sehî gives the name of this instrument as "Gıdâ-yı Rûh". The place where Zeynelâbidîn stayed with Ahmed must have been Amasya, where Ahmed was sanjak governor for many years. Kınalızâde names no place, so this too is an inference.

Âşık Çelebi describes Korkut's court at Manisa in his entry on Gazâlî of Bursa, nicknamed "Deli Birader" (Mad Brother). In his view there was no prince of Rum who had taken as large a share of learning and knowledge as that prince, or who had completed his excellence through conversation with the learned. Gazâlî first entered the palace through the prince's favourite Piyâle Bey, was later admitted to the prince's private gatherings, and accompanied him on the journey to Egypt. At a drinking party the prince grew angry with Gazâlî and ordered him beheaded. Gazâlî persuaded the head gatekeeper that the prince would regret it on sobering up in the morning and would kill him too, and so was hidden. Next morning, hearing that Birader had been killed, Korkut reached for his sword in a rage, and rejoiced on learning that he was alive. When Selim marched on Manisa, Korkut took to the mountains with Piyâle Bey and Çavuş Hasan. According to Âşık Çelebi, when he was captured he pleaded with his brother, saying "tek baña Birâder'le Piyâle hem-ṣoḥbet olsun ḳâ'ilem yirüm taḫt-ı câhdan bedel taḫt-ı çâh yâ bir kûşe-i ḫânḳâh olsun": let me have only the company of Birader and Piyâle, and in place of the throne of rank I will be content with the bottom of a well or a corner of a dervish lodge.

Gazâlî wrote his humorous work Dâfi'u'l-gumûm ve Râfi'u'l-hümûm for Korkut, and after the prince's death he gave up the path of the learned and became sheikh of the Geyikli Baba lodge in Bursa. Âşık Çelebi also records that Gazâlî composed a chronogram on Korkut's killing. Two couplets of this poem run: "Ḳanı Ḳorḳud Ḫan ki şevket ile / Miåli bulınmaz idi dünyâda // Ḥâṣılı yandı nâr-ı ḥasretle / Ḫırmen-i 'ömrini virüp bâda". Where is Korkut Khan, whose like in might was not to be found in the world; in the end he burned in the fire of longing and gave the harvest of his life to the wind, it says. The dictionary of names in Turkish literature counts Fedâyî, Serîrî of Manisa and Sevdâyî, besides Gazâlî, among the poets around the prince.

The literary tie with Amasya is part of this circle of patronage as well. Hüsameddin records that the Amasya scholar and poet Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman Çelebi (Hâtemî) wrote a treatise examining difficult questions of theology and sent it to Korkut, praising the prince in an Arabic qasida in the treatise's preface. It is quite possible that the Hâtemî whose poem was included in the Da'vetü'n-nefsi't-tâliha is this same Müeyyedzâde. But since the source does not identify the poet further, this remains an inference.

The sources also differ over the meaning of the pen name and when it was taken. Latîfî writes that Korkut, seeing his father's favour turn to his elder brother Ahmed, took the pen name "Harîmî", left crown and throne and went to Egypt, and that he made the poem beginning "Tâc u kabâyı terk idüp" the voice of his condition at that time. Emecen, also relying on Latîfî, writes that he used this pen name because he entered the state of ritual consecration (ihram) when he went to Egypt intending the pilgrimage. The dictionary of names in Turkish literature, on the other hand, says the pen name came from his intention to visit the Holy Sanctuary (Harem-i Şerif). If the notes and poems in the Nuruosmaniye manuscript are his, however, the view that he obtained a licence (icazet) with them in 1479 would show that the pen name was in use long before the journey to Egypt. Since their attribution to him has not been settled, the question remains open.

The clearest judgement on the quality of his poetry is Filiz Kılıç's. Kılıç assesses Harîmî as a poet of middling rank who wrote few poems. The main theme of his ghazals is human or divine love. The pain suffered from love and the beloved, loneliness and the sorrow of having no friend are frequent subjects. Sufi elements are abundant, and at times there are lines in which the poet praises himself and his art. He often uses idioms and proverbs, and achieves harmony mostly through the repetition of words and letters. Ali Emîrî's Cevâhirü'l-Mülûk, Şemseddin Sâmî's Kâmûsü'l-A'lâm and Rüştü Şardağ's Şair Sultanlar also mention him among the poet princes.

Selected Poems

The poems below come from two kinds of source. The first three examples are couplets quoted by the biographers and are given in the transliteration of the critical editions published by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The next four ghazals are the examples taken from Filiz Kılıç's 1996 article into the dictionary of names in Turkish literature and are quoted in the spelling used there. The renderings in plain prose are this article's own. Places where the reading is uncertain are noted separately. All 52 ghazals and the two Turkish couplets of the Dîvânçe, based on Filiz Kılıç's 1996 edition, now have their own pages in the Harîmî (Prince Korkut) section; the two-couplet Arabic poem also has its own page in the same section, with the Arabic-script text, a Latin reading and an English rendering.

Opening Couplet: Tûtiyâ-yı ḫâk-pâyüñden iden ḳaṭ'-ı naẓar

Tûtiyâ-yı ḫâk-pâyüñden iden ḳaṭ'-ı naẓar
İki gözümse gerekmez çıḳsun ey nûr-ı baṣar

Its meaning is this: O light of my eyes, if an eye is going to turn its gaze away from the dust your foot treads, that eye-salve, then even if it is my own two eyes I do not need them; let them be put out. Tûtiyâ is a collyrium once applied to the eyes and believed to strengthen the sight. Likening the dust of the beloved's feet to this salve is a well-known image of divan poetry. By saying he wants no eye that would turn from that dust, the poet carries his devotion to its furthest point. Latîfî counts this opening couplet (matla) among the prince's "eş'âr-ı dürer-bâr", his pearl-scattering verses. Kınalızâde too mentions the same couplet as a "matla'-ı meşhûr", a famous opening couplet. The couplet is on p. 104 of the Latîfî edition and p. 154 of the Kınalızâde edition.

Poem: Tâc u ḳabâyı terk idüp 'üryân olayın bir zamân

Tâc u ḳabâyı terk idüp 'üryân olayın bir zamân
Ġurbetde seyrân eyleyüp mihmân olayın bir zamân
Çeng ü rebâbuñ ṣoḥbeti muṭrib tamâm oldı hemân
Bezm-i belâda ney gibi nâlân olayın bir zamân
Geh düşüben gâhî ṭurup geh gülüben gâh aġlayup
Geh ḳan yudup sarḫoş olup sekrân olayın bir zamân

In plain English: Let me leave crown and robe and be naked for a while; let me wander in exile and be a guest for a while. O musician, the company of the harp and the rebab is over now. In the gathering of affliction let me moan like the reed flute (ney) for a while. Now falling, now rising, now laughing, now weeping, now swallowing blood and growing drunk, let me be beside myself for a while.

Latîfî quotes these three couplets, noting that they were spoken as "ḥasb-i ḥâl", the voice of his condition, in the days when Korkut left crown and throne and went to Egypt (p. 104). Kınalızâde describes the same couplets as "ebyât-ı dervîşâne", couplets in the dervish manner, and says they are "mensûb", ascribed, to the prince. This wording leaves the poem's attribution to him as a report (p. 154). In Kınalızâde's text the third couplet reads "Geh düşeyin gâhî turup geh güleyin gâh aglayup / Geh kan yudup serhôş olup sekrân olayın bir zemân". Sehî gives only the first couplet (p. 23). In the poem crown and robe are the visible signs of sovereignty. The move from harp and rebab to the reed flute expresses a passage from palace entertainment to dervish ritual, from joy to lament. It is fitting that a prince so devoted to music should speak his farewell through instruments. If the context Latîfî gives is correct, the poem also matches Korkut's effort to present his journey to Egypt in 1509 as a withdrawal from the race for the throne.

Couplet: Ḥasret-i derd-i ruḫuñla lâle-i Nu'mânı gör

Ḥasret-i derd-i ruḫuñla lâle-i Nu'mânı gör
Baş açuḳ abdâl olup biline yapraḳ baġlanur

Meaning: See this poppy, in its longing for the pain of your cheek. It has become a bareheaded wandering dervish, and a leaf is tied about its waist. Lâle-i Nu'mân is the name of the red poppy in divan poetry. The poet likens the open flower, its head uncovered, to a wandering dervish (abdal) who goes bareheaded and ties a leaf around his waist in place of a sash. Because the poppy's redness recalls the beloved's cheek, the flower seems to have renounced the world out of this longing. Sehî gives this couplet as the first example of the prince's poems (p. 23). Among the manuscript variants the second line also appears as "Baş açuḳ yalın ayaḳ biline yapraḳ baġlayan".

Ghazal: Perdesüz dimek içün râzını dildâre kopuz

Perdesüz dimek içün râzını dildâre kopuz
Elin ayagın öpüp yüz süre yalvara kopuz
Geydügi köhne nemed sohbet-i uşşâka gider
Yürür elden ele bî-çâre vü âvâre kopuz
Mutrib alup dizi üstine kulagını burar
Dimesün diye meger sırrını agyâre kopuz
Damagın çatladuban la'line karşu ezilür
Dostlar gör nice âşık dirilür yâre kopuz
Delinüp bagrı anun ney gibi inledügi bu
Ey Harîmî bulamaz derdine bir çâre kopuz

In plain English: So as to tell its secret to the beloved without a veil, the kopuz kisses her hands and feet, rubs its face before her and pleads. In the old felt cover it wears, it goes to the gatherings of lovers. Helpless and vagrant, the kopuz passes from hand to hand. The musician takes it on his knee and twists its ear, perhaps so that the kopuz will not tell its secret to strangers. With its palate cracked, it shrinks and frets before the beloved's ruby lip. Friends, see how the kopuz becomes a lover to the beloved. Its breast pierced, it moans like the reed flute. O Harîmî, the kopuz finds no cure for its pain.

The refrain word (redif) of the ghazal is "kopuz", and the poem is built from beginning to end around this instrument. Its wordplay rests on the parts of the instrument. "Perde" means both the fret of the instrument and a veil, "kulak" both a human ear and a tuning peg, and "damak" (palate) and "bağır" (breast) are the body of the instrument. The kopuz whose ear is twisted is imagined like a child whose ear is pulled so that it will not give away a secret. The word "dirilür" in the fourth couplet can also be read as "is gathered" or "is called". The second line can therefore be understood in two ways. The harmony based on repetition that Kılıç speaks of is achieved here through the refrain. Since the sources say the prince played every kind of instrument, this ghazal, which turns an instrument into a lover, can be read together with his love of music. This last point is an inference. The poem is on p. 211 of Kılıç's article.

Ghazal: Subh-dem yil gibi yilüp azm-i yâr itsem gerek

Subh-dem yil gibi yilüp azm-i yâr itsem gerek
Yüz süriyü işiginde cân nisâr itsem gerek
Dil saçı sevdâsına tolaşdı çünkim ol mehün
Cân virüp bu kâr u bârı târmâr itsem gerek
Sihr ile câdû gözi cân mülkini idüp harâb
Işkınun bünyâdını ben üstüvâr itsem gerek
Zülfinün câdûsına meyl itdügi şehbâz-ı dil
Ol hümâyı yine ben peşşe şikâr itsem gerek
Ol mehün mihrin alem gibi nişân itmek içün
Sırr-ı ışkını cihâna âşkâr itsem gerek
Bu Harîmî zühd ü takvâya kadem basmak içün
Işk yolında melâmet ihtiyâr itsem gerek

In plain English: At dawn I must race like the wind and set out for the beloved, and rubbing my face on her threshold I must scatter my soul as an offering. Since my heart has become entangled in passion for that moon-faced one's hair, I must give my life and scatter all this business to the winds. Since her sorcerer eye has laid waste the realm of my soul by magic, I must make firm the foundation of her love. The fourth couplet is unclear. It says that the royal falcon of the heart has inclined toward the sorcery of the beloved's lock, while the poet must hunt that huma bird like a mosquito. This can be understood as a claim to achieve the impossible, or as a jest on the smallness of what has captured the heart. To display that moon's love like a banner, I must reveal the secret of my love to the world. This Harîmî, so as to set foot on the path of asceticism and piety, must choose blame on the road of love.

The refrain "itsem gerek" (I must do) turns every couplet into the statement of a resolve or a necessity. In the third couplet the wish to strengthen the foundation of love against the ruined realm of the soul sets up a contrast. In the fifth couplet "mihr" means both love and the sun, and "alem" means a banner, and the moon and sun named together form a congruence of images (tenasüp). The melâmet of the last couplet is a Sufi path that counsels escaping hypocrisy by making oneself blameworthy in the eyes of the people. It is a good example of the Sufi elements that Kılıç sees in Harîmî's poetry. The poem is on p. 212 of Kılıç's article.

Ghazal: Ne fitnedür benün zülfün biri zengî biri Hindû

Ne fitnedür benün zülfün biri zengî biri Hindû
Ne sihr olur gözün gamzen biri ayyâr biri câdû
Kimün vardur senün gibi cihânda bir dahı dil-ber
Sanavber-kad münevver-had lebi hokka dişi incü
Boyı ar'ar semenber bir melek-manzar hatı anber
Saçı sünbül beni fülfül mu'attar-zülf ü müşkîn-bû
Sa'âdet ahteri togdı başuma dün gice cânâ
Ne tâli'dür bu tâli' kim tulû' itdükde sen meh-rû
Harîmî cân virem dirken işigün yasdanup cânâ
Nice gavgâ nice sevdâ getürdi başuma bu hû

In plain English: What mischief is this, your mole and your lock, one a Zanzibari and one a Hindu. What magic is this, your eye and your glance, one a rogue and one a sorcerer. Who else in the world has a beloved like you: pine-tall, bright-cheeked, her lip a little casket, her teeth pearls. Her stature a juniper, her bosom jasmine, angel-faced, her down ambergris, her hair hyacinth, her mole a peppercorn, her locks perfumed and scented with musk. Last night the star of happiness rose over my head, beloved. What fortune is this fortune, that when it rose it was you, moon-faced one. Just as Harîmî was saying, let me lay my head on your threshold and give up my life, this "hû" brought so many quarrels, so many passions upon his head.

The ghazal sets out the catalogue of beauty of divan poetry one item after another. The black mole and lock are likened to an African and an Indian, the stature to the pine and the juniper, the teeth to pearls, and the mouth, for its smallness, to a little casket. The "biri ... biri" (one ... one) sequence of the first couplet is a clear example of the harmony based on repetition that Kılıç speaks of. In the fourth couplet the word "tâli'" is used in the senses of both fortune and a rising star, and together with "tulû'" (rising) forms a play on words. The word "hû" in the last couplet can be read as the cry "Hû" uttered by dervishes in their remembrance of God, or in the sense of "huy", habit. Which is meant is not certain. The poem is on p. 214 of Kılıç's article.

Ghazal: Işka düşdün ey gönül ney gibi nâlân ol yüri

Işka düşdün ey gönül ney gibi nâlân ol yüri
Zülf-i dil-ber gibi var hâli perîşân ol yüri
Pâdişehlık budur ey dil tâ ölince dil-berün
İtleriyle her gice kûyında mihmân ol yüri
Lutf kıl ey müdde'î tek dâmen-i dildârı ko
Büsbütün dünyâ sana var Mısra sultân ol yüri
Bahr-ı ışka fülk-i ten gark olısardur âkıbet
Âlemi tûfân idüp ey eşk bârân ol yüri
Gerçi kim olmış durur mürşîde izhâr-ı kemâl
Ey Harîmî sen bugün şi'rünle Selmân ol yüri

In plain English: O heart, you have fallen in love; go, moan like the reed flute. Go, let your state be dishevelled like the beloved's lock. O heart, this is sovereignty: until you die, be a guest every night in the beloved's street together with her dogs. O rival, be kind and only let go of the beloved's skirt. Let the whole world be yours; go, be sultan of Egypt. The ship of the body will in the end sink in the sea of love. O tear, turn the world into a flood; go, be rain. The word "mürşîde" in the fifth couplet can be read as "to the spiritual guide" or as a name. It can be roughly understood as "although it falls to the spiritual guide to display perfection". O Harîmî, today go, with your poetry be a Selmân.

The refrain "ol yüri" (go, be ...) turns the ghazal into a series of commands. The second couplet is striking when one considers that it was written by a prince. Spending the night with dogs in the beloved's street is a well-known image in divan poetry for the lover's utter self-abasement. The poet calls this "sovereignty". The third couplet tells the rival to become "sultan of Egypt" in return for leaving the beloved and taking the world. The sultanate of Egypt is often mentioned in divan poetry because of the story of the Prophet Joseph. Korkut's journey to Cairo in 1509-1510 also comes to mind. But since it is not known when the ghazal was written, this connection cannot be made. The Selmân of the last couplet is most probably the Persian poet Salman Savaji. This is an inference. The couplet is a good example of Kılıç's observation that Harîmî at times praises himself and his art. The poem is on p. 218 of Kılıç's article.

Chronology

874 (1469-70): Born in Amasya (Hüsameddin, dictionary of names in Turkish literature). The TDV also mentions 872 (1467) and notes that there is no definite record.

1479: Sent with his brothers from Amasya to Istanbul to be circumcised.

1481: After the death of Mehmed II, placed on the throne as regent until his father's arrival.

Zilkade 888 (December 1483): Sent to the sanjak of Manisa. Hüsameddin, however, places his dispatch to Saruhan after 896.

896 (1490-91): Koca Emîr İbrâhim Efendi of Amasya went to Manisa as his tutor.

Early 1502: Transferred from Manisa to Antalya.

1508: Wrote the Da'vetü'n-nefsi't-tâliha and presented it to his father.

11 May 1509: Set out for Egypt.

11 July 1510: Left Cairo to return to Antalya.

March 1511: Went from Antalya to Manisa without permission.

6 April 1512: Met his father in Istanbul.

Around 13 March 1513: Strangled. On 17 March he was buried in Bursa in the Tomb of Orhan Gazi.

1334 (1915-16): Ali Emîrî Efendi compiled Harîmî's divançe.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Official sources

Books

Online sources