Original Persian Text

Istanbul 1306 printing, couplet 1 of ghazal 31; the full ghazal is not given in the source.

Şeh-i memālik-i derdem belā penāh-ı menest
Ġamem ki bî-ḥadd ü pāyān büved sipāh-ı men-est

In English

1. I am the king of the realms of pain; affliction is my refuge, and my grief, which has no limit or end, is my army.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The couplet is the opening couplet (matla) of ghazal 31 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, under the spiritual emblems of sovereignty, that is, titles. Being an opening couplet, both lines rhyme: the rhyme is formed by "-āh" in "penāh" and "sipāh", and the redif (refrain word) by "-ı menest" (is mine). 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 a royal metaphor (istiare) from beginning to end. Pain becomes a realm, affliction a refuge (penāh) and grief an army (sipāh); the poet is the king of this realm. In divan poetry the lover is shown as a beggar (gedā) at the beloved's door, and the contrast between beggar and king is common. Here the contrast is reversed; the lover is the sultan of pain and grief. The phrase "bî-ḥadd ü pāyān" (without limit or end) works like a military expression describing a countless army. Aydın notes that in Selîmî's divan the words "şeh, şāh, şehinşāh" occur 17 times and "salṭanat" (sultanate) 8 times. This vocabulary allows a real sultan to describe love itself as a reign. The same construction appears in the opening couplet of ghazal 37, which begins "I am the king of the army of grief".

Bibliography

Online sources