Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâʻîlün Mefâʻîlün Mefâʻîlün Mefâʻîlün

İşidüp bu muṣîbet ḥâlini ins ile cân yansun
Peşîmân olup itdügi işe şâh-ı cihân yansun
Bu âteşden ʻalevlensün göyünsün cism [ü] cân yansun
Yine göynüklü bir âh ideyin kevn ü mekân yansun
Şerâr-ı nâr-ı âhumdan zemîn ü âsumân yansun
Bu mâtemden fiġân u nâle ḳılsun begler aġalar
Perîşân-ḥâl olup yolsun ṣaçın zülfin semen-sâlar
Yine cûş u ḫurûş idüp acısun baña deryâlar
Bu cevri itdügi yoḳdur cihânda ʻâlem-ârâlar
İşidüp bu muṣîbet ḥâlini ins ile cân yansun
Gözüm bu mâcerâ içün dem-â-dem ḳanlar aġlasun
Ṭaşuban seyl-i eşküm ġarḳ idüp dünyâyı çaġlasun
Çıġırup raʻd [u] berḳ ṭûfân olup yolları baġlasun
Firâḳ u nâr-ı ḥasretle işiden sîne ṭaġlasun
Bu âteşden ʻalevlensün zemîn ü âsumân yansun
Çü gitdi dâr-ı ʻuḳbâya yiri ḫuld-ı berîn olsun
O maẓlûmuñ enîsi Ḥażret-i Rûḥu’l-emîn olsun
Semâvât ehl-i raḥm idüp aña yâr u ḳarîn olsun
Eḥibbâsınuñ işi rûz [u] şeb zâr u enîn olsun
Peşîmân olup itdügi işe şâh-ı cihân yansun
Şafaḳ bu mâtem içün ṭañ mı boyanursa ger ḳana
Ki hergiz bu muṣîbet olmamışdur âl-i ʻOsmân’a
Yaşum bu mâcerâ içün dönüpdür laʻl ü mercâna
Sirâcî yanalum tâ ḥaşr olunca nâr-ı hicrâna
Firâḳ u ḥasret odından ṭutuşsun cism ü cân yansun

In English

1. Hearing of this calamity, let man and jinn burn; regretting what he has done, let the king of the world burn. Let body and soul blaze and catch fire from this flame and burn; let me heave once more a heart-searing sigh so that the whole of creation burns; from the sparks of the fire of my sigh let earth and heaven burn.

2. Let the beys and aghas lament and moan at this mourning; let the jasmine-bodied beauties, distraught, tear their hair and locks. Let the seas once more surge and roar and take pity on me; never in the world have the rulers who adorn it done such cruelty. Hearing of this calamity, let man and jinn burn.

3. Let my eye weep blood every moment for this event; let the flood of my tears overflow, drown the world and roar. Let thunder and lightning cry out and become a deluge and block the roads; let every breast that hears it be branded with the fire of separation and longing. From this fire let earth and heaven blaze and burn.

4. Since he has gone to the abode of the hereafter, may his place be lofty paradise; may the companion of that wronged one be Gabriel (Rûhu'l-emîn). May the dwellers of heaven show him mercy and be his friends and companions; may his loved ones' work be moaning and weeping night and day. Regretting what he has done, let the king of the world burn.

5. Is it any wonder if the dawn is dyed with blood for this mourning; for never has such a calamity befallen the house of Osman. My tears have turned to ruby and coral (blood) for this event; O Sirâcî, let us burn in the fire of separation until the Resurrection. From the fire of separation and longing let body and soul catch fire and burn.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a muhammes of five stanzas in the metre "mefâʻîlün mefâʻîlün mefâʻîlün mefâʻîlün"; each stanza has five lines, and all the lines end in "yansun" (let it burn) or a sound rhyming with it. The last line of each stanza repeats one of the lines of the first stanza and changes from stanza to stanza: the second stanza closes with "İşidüp bu muṣîbet ḥâlini ins ile cân yansun", the third with "Bu âteşden ʻalevlensün zemîn ü âsumân yansun", the fourth with "Peşîmân olup itdügi işe şâh-ı cihân yansun". This structure is an example of the mütekerrir muhammes, in which the refrain recurs in changing form. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last stanza. The text is on folios 14a-14b of the only copy of Sirâcî's divan, in the Rare Works Library of Istanbul University, and is given in the appendix of the article Maruf Çakır published in 2021; the square brackets are Çakır's additions.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The whole poem is built on the verb "to burn". Man, jinn, creation, earth and heaven catch fire from the flame of the sigh; separation and longing are a fire. The repetition of this single image through five stanzas gives the poem the intensity peculiar to laments. The second line of the first stanza, "Peşîmân olup itdügi işe şâh-ı cihân yansun" (regretting what he has done, let the king of the world burn), is the boldest phrase of the poem and returns as a refrain at the end of the fourth stanza. Maruf Çakır quotes this line as the expression of Sirâcî's conviction that the sultan would surely regret what he had done. The line "Bu cevri itdügi yoḳdur cihânda ʻâlem-ârâlar" in the second stanza repeats the same reproach by saying that the rulers who adorn the world have never done such cruelty.

The first couplet of the fifth stanza says that the prince's death was a calamity without precedent in the Ottoman dynasty. Çakır interprets this couplet as follows: among the Ottoman sultans who ordered the death of their own sons, before Süleyman there was only Murad I, and his son Savcı Bey had openly rebelled against his father; Prince Mustafa, by contrast, had not rebelled but was killed as the result of a suspicion. The tears turning to ruby and coral is a variation on the image of bloody tears; the red stones convey the colour of the blood mingled with the tears.

Historical Context

Sirâcî's divan contains three elegies and a eulogy written for Prince Mustafa; with these elegies, introduced by Çakır in 2021, the number of known elegies for Prince Mustafa rose to nineteen. What is known of the poet's identity and divan is described in the biographical article in this category, and the other elegies in our article Elegies for Prince Mustafa.

Bibliography

  • Maruf Çakır, "Sirâcî'nin Şehzade Mustafa Mersiyeleri", Kocatepe İslami İlimler Dergisi, 4(1), 2021, pp. 9-22, esp. 12, 16-17, 18-19. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/kiid/article/892994
  • Sirâcî, Dîvân, Istanbul University Rare Works Library, Turkish Manuscripts, NCTY09503, fols. 14a-14b (copied 1055/1645-46; as published by Çakır).

Online sources