Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Mefâʻilün Feʻilâtün Mefâʻilün Feʻilün
Stanza I
Gelüñ beri idelüm ḥaşr olunca efġânı
Ki nev-civân iken aldırduḳ ol güzel ḫanı
Demidür aḳar ise dem durur gözüm ḳanı
Bulımadum arayup taḫt-ı dilde sulṭânı
Ol idi ḥüsn ile ʻâlemde Yûsuf-ı sânî
ʻAṭâ vü cûd u seḫâda yoġ idi aḳrânı
Nifâḳ u buġż idüp ol ḫana daḫi iḫvânı
Kim itdiler ṣanasun yine mâh-ı Kenʻân’ı
Ḫaber virüñ gideyin ḳande gitdi ol ḫanum
Bu intiẓâr ile çıḳsa ʻaceb midür cânum
Stanza II
Bu çarḫ-ı pîre-zen anuñla ṭurfe-ḥâl itdi
Niçe anuñ gibi câna bu resme âl itdi
Şehâdet eyler idi ḳalb intiḳâline
Ḳażâya râżî olup emre imtisâl itdi
Çerâġ-ı rûşeni söyündi âl-i ʻOsmân’uñ
O meh ġurûba varup çünkim intiḳâl itdi
Neşâṭ u ʻayş-ı cihân oldı mâteme tebdîl
Ḳulûb-ı nâsı firâḳ ile pür-melâl itdi
Dirîġ ʻaksine döndi bu çarḫ-ı kîne-güẕâr
Yiridür eyler isem rûz [u] şeb fiġân ile zâr
Stanza III
Bu ḥasret odına yandı yaḳıldı mîr ü sipâh
Ḳarañu gice misâli büridi şâl-ı siyâh
İdüp bu nevʻ ile her kişi zâr u feryâdı
Direk direk göge aġdı fiġân u nâle vü âh
Şafaḳ bu ḥâli görüp oldı dâmeni pür-ḫûn
Bu vird[i] vird idine rûz-ı ḥaşre dek efvâh
Teraḥḥüm eyleyüp acıdı aña deryâlar
Bu ḥasret odına yansa ʻaceb mi bende vü şâh
Gelüñ fiġân idüben zâr u zâr aġlayalum
Bu nâ[r-ı] ḥasret ile biz de sîne dâġlayalum
Stanza IV
Dirîġ ẓulm ile gitdi ḥayf o şehzâde
Muṣîbeti n’ola beñzerse anuñ evlâda
Dögündi ṭaş ile çaġladı ṭaşuban her ṣu
Bu mâcerâyı varup didi ḳaʻr-ı derîne
Elif misâl iken ol râh-ı istiḳâmetde
Dirîġ egri didiler o serv-i âzâde
Ḥasûd aña buġuż idüp itdiler bühtân
Gören bu ẓulm[ı] n’ola başlar ise feryâda
Ne çâre bu imiş muḳteżâ-yı Rabbânî
Ecel gelince ger itmez kimesne dermânı
Stanza V
Sirâcî aġlayalum rûz u şeb fiġân idelüm
Derûnumuzda olan sırrımız ʻayân idelüm
Muṣîbeti[ni] o cânuñ dimiş durur şuʻarâ
Fiġân u nâle ile biz daḫi beyân idelüm
Şafaḳ bu mâtem içün yine ġarḳ-ı ḫûn oldı
Aḳıdup eşkimizi ḳanuña revân idelüm
Boyandı ḳana sipihrüñ bu demde dâmeni
Gelüñ bu ḥasret ile biz de terk-i cân idelüm
Gelüñ beri idelüm ḥaşr olunca efġânı
Ki nev-civân iken aldırduḳ ol güzel ḫanı
In English
Stanza I
1. Come here, let us lament until the Resurrection; for we let that fair khan be taken from us while he was still young.
2. If the blood of my eye flows, it is the very time for it ("dem" means both time and blood); I searched the throne of my heart and could not find the sultan.
3. He was a second Joseph in the world for beauty; in giving, generosity and open-handedness he had no equal.
4. His brothers too bore discord and hatred towards that khan, as if they were doing again to the moon of Canaan (Joseph) what was done to him.
5. Tell me, so that I may go wherever my khan has gone; is it any wonder if my soul departs with this waiting.
Stanza II
6. This old-hag heaven did a strange thing to him; it has played such a trick on many a soul like him.
7. His heart bore witness that he would depart; consenting to destiny, he submitted to the command.
8. When that moon reached its setting and departed, the bright lamp of the house of Osman went out.
9. The joy and pleasure of the world were turned to mourning; (his departure) filled the hearts of the people with grief through separation.
10. Alas, this rancorous heaven has turned upside down; it is fitting if I moan in lament night and day.
Stanza III
11. Beys and soldiers burned and were consumed in this fire of longing; like the dark night they wrapped themselves in black shawls.
12. When everyone moaned and cried out in this way, lament, moaning and sighs rose to the sky in pillars.
13. Seeing this state the dawn's skirt filled with blood; let mouths keep repeating it until the Day of Resurrection.
14. The seas took pity and grieved for him; is it any wonder if servant and shah alike burn in this fire of longing.
15. Come, let us lament and weep bitterly; let us too brand our breasts with this fire of longing.
Stanza IV
16. Alas, that prince went through oppression, what a pity; is it any wonder if his calamity resembles that of (the Prophet's) descendant (Karbala).
17. Every stream beat itself on the stones, overflowed and roared; it went and told this event to the bottom of the deep sea.
18. While he was straight as an alif on the path of uprightness, alas, they called that free cypress crooked.
19. The envious bore him hatred and slandered him; is it any wonder if whoever sees this oppression begins to cry out.
20. What can be done, this was the decree of the Lord; when death comes no one can remedy it.
Stanza V
21. O Sirâcî, let us weep night and day and lament; let us reveal the secret that is within us.
22. The poets have spoken of the calamity of that dear soul; let us too tell of it with lament and moaning.
23. For this mourning the dawn is once more drowned in blood; let us pour out our tears like a flood for his blood.
24. At this moment the skirt of the heavens has been dyed with blood; come, let us too give up our lives with this longing.
25. Come here, let us lament until the Resurrection; for we let that fair khan be taken from us while he was still young.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The poem is a terkib-i bend of five stanzas in the metre "mefâʻilün feʻilâtün mefâʻilün feʻilün". Each stanza consists of a section (hane) of four couplets and a separately rhymed linking couplet (vasıta beyti); the poem thus has twenty-five couplets. The linking couplet of the last stanza repeats the first couplet of the poem exactly: "Gelüñ beri idelüm ḥaşr olunca efġânı / Ki nev-civân iken aldırduḳ ol güzel ḫanı". The poem thus returns to where it began. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the first line of the last stanza. The text is on folios 26a-26b of Sirâcî's divan and is given in the appendix of Maruf Çakır's article; the square brackets are Çakır's additions. In quoting the fourth stanza within the article, Çakır uses the readings "Dirîġ[â]" and "buġż"; the text of the appendix is followed here. The rhyme "derîne" in the second couplet of the fourth stanza does not fit the stanza's rhyme "-âde"; the text has been left as published.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The first stanza likens the prince to Joseph: his brothers too bore discord and hatred towards the prince, who was a "Yûsuf-ı sânî" (second Joseph) in beauty, as if they were doing again what Joseph's brothers did to him. Maruf Çakır notes that Sirâcî here hints that Hürrem Sultan was not the only culprit and that her sons, who had their eyes on the throne, were also involved, and that he likens the prince's death through his brothers' intrigue to the envy of the brothers in the story of Joseph. The word "dem" in the second couplet is a pun used in both its meanings, time and blood.
Çakır reads the phrase "çarḫ-ı pîre-zen" (old-hag heaven) in the first couplet of the second stanza as a double meaning (tevriye): in divan poetry the heavens, which have existed since the creation of the world and so have grown old and lost their beauty, are called an "old hag"; although Sirâcî did not dare to name Hürrem Sultan, he points to her through this allusion. Çakır sees a similar double meaning in Fünûnî's phrase "zen-i mekkâr" (deceitful woman). In the same stanza the likening of the prince to a moon that reached its setting and departed, and the going out of the lamp of the house of Osman, express that the death was a darkness for the dynasty.
The fourth stanza likens the prince's calamity to that of the "evlâd" (descendant), in Çakır's interpretation the martyrdom of Hüseyin at Karbala; according to Çakır the poet may here be likening the killing of the prince's children as well to the massacre of Karbala, thereby equating the perpetrators of the event with Yazid. In the same stanza the couplet "Elif misâl iken ol râh-ı istiḳâmetde / Dirîġ egri didiler o serv-i âzâde" sets up a contrast between uprightness, through the letter alif with its form of a straight line, and slander, through the word "egri" (crooked); the same image is found in the elegy of Hayâlî-i Gülşenî. In the fifth stanza Sirâcî explains why he wrote the elegy: the poets have spoken of the calamity of that dear soul, and he too will tell of it with lament and moaning. Çakır regards this couplet as the expression of Sirâcî's decision, influenced by the attitude of other poets, to put his own feelings into writing.
Historical Context
This elegy is one of the witnesses showing that after Prince Mustafa's death writing elegies became an attitude among poets: Sirâcî says openly that other poets too have voiced the calamity. Who the poet was and his other poems are 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. 15-17, 19-21. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/kiid/article/892994
- Sirâcî, Dîvân, Istanbul University Rare Works Library, Turkish Manuscripts, NCTY09503, fols. 26a-26b (copied 1055/1645-46; as published by Çakır).
Online sources
