Original Persian Text

Istanbul 1306 printing, couplets 1 and 4 of ghazal 7; the full ghazal is not given in the source.

Der-sefer geşten u în bî-ser ü sāmāni-i mā
Behr-i cemʿiyyet-i dil-hāst perîşāni-i mā
Kişver-i dehr giriftîm be-himmet āsān
Gerçi düşvār nümāyed be-tü āsāni-i mā

In English

1. Our roaming on campaigns, this headless, unsettled state of ours, is for the gathering of hearts; our dispersal is for the composure of hearts.

4. Though our ease may seem hard to you, we took the realm of time easily by our resolve.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

These two couplets are the first and fourth couplets of ghazal 7 in the Istanbul 1306 printing. Seda Aydın quotes this couplet in her article showing how Selîmî combines the identity of the sultan with that of the lover in his Persian ghazals, giving the opening couplet under the vocabulary of war and the fourth under the heading "Leadership". The rhyme is formed by the sound "-āni" (sāmāni, perîşāni, āsāni) and the redif (refrain word) by the suffix "-i mā"; the same ground occurs in ghazal 3. Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi quotes the opening couplet, with a different first line, among Selim's "pesendîde vü şâhâne" opening couplets, admired and worthy of a king: "Nîst beyhûde seferhâ vü feres rânî-i mâ / Behr-i cem'iyyet dilhâ'st perîşânî-i mâ" (Our campaigns and our riding are not in vain; our dispersal is for the gathering of hearts). Selîmî's life, his Persian divan and the debate over his Turkish poems are discussed in detail in Yavuz Sultan Selim (Selîmî) and his poems.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet is built on the familiar contrast of divan poetry between "cem'iyyet" (gathering, composure) and "perîşānî" (dispersal). The lover is distracted and the beloved's locks are dishevelled; here, however, dispersal is a sultan's homeless roaming on campaign, and its aim is the gathering of the people's hearts. A concept of love poetry is thus reread in the language of royal policy. In the fourth couplet "āsān" (easy) is set against "düşvār" (hard); the word "āsān" occurs twice in the couplet and is stressed by the repetition of sound. The phrase "kişver-i dehr" (the realm of time) says that the conquest is over the age itself as well as over land. Kınalızâde's account shows that the opening couplet was counted among Selim's best-known sayings in the sixteenth century.

Bibliography

Online sources