Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Feʻilātün feʻilātün feʻilātün feʻilün

Biliriz Ꜥāşıḳa dil-berde maḥabbet olmaz
Sevmeden de yine hīç bizde ferāġat olmaz
ꜤArż-ı ḥāl-i dil-i zārım görüp ol şūḫ dimiş
Geçer Ꜥömri elem-i hecr ile vuṣlat olmaz
Gerdenin ki deheniñ būs ide yārıñ her bār
Bundan Ꜥalā daḫı hīç Ꜥāşıḳa devlet olmaz
Almaġa hāle-i aġūşa o sīm-endāmı
Baña ancaḳ baña bu denīye ruḫṣat olmaz
Mihriyā [sen] bu sözimi çalagel gūş eyle
Bī-vefā dil-bere dil virmede rāḥat olmaz

In English

1. We know that a beloved has no love for her lover; yet we, for our part, never give up loving her.

2. That coquette, seeing me lay out the state of my lamenting heart, is said to have replied: "Your life will pass in the pain of separation; there will be no union."

3. To kiss the beloved's neck and mouth each time, there is no greater happiness for a lover than this. (The words "Gerdenin ki" at the start of the first line, as read in the article, do not form a clear sentence; the meaning is given on the basis of the core phrase "to kiss her neck and mouth".)

4. To take that silver-bodied beauty into the ring of my embrace, I, only I, this lowly servant of hers, am not permitted.

5. O Mihrî, take this word of mine well to heart: there is no peace in giving one's heart to a faithless beloved. (The reading and meaning of "çalagel" in the line are not clear; the sense "take it to heart, listen" comes from the words "gūş eyle".)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This ghazal does not appear in Mihrî Hatun's divan; it is recorded under the pen name (mahlas) Mihrî on folio 66b of the poetry anthology numbered 43 Va 2871 in the Kütahya Vahid Paşa Provincial Public Library, whose compiler is unknown. Mutlu Muhammet Aktaş, who published the twenty ghazals with the pen name Mihrî in the anthology, regards it as a strong possibility that they belong to Mihrî Hatun, but also writes openly that his comparisons of language and style do not suffice for a firm judgment. With this record in mind, the poem should be read as a ghazal that is probably Mihrî Hatun's but has not been confirmed as hers.

The ghazal has five couplets (beyit) and is composed in the remel metre, in the aruz (quantitative metre) pattern "Fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilün". The rhyme (kafiye) is built on the sounds "-at" and "-et" (maḥabbet, ferâġat, vuṣlat, devlet, ruḫṣat, râḥat), and the redif (refrain word) is "olmaz". In the opening couplet (matla) the two lines rhyme with each other, while in the other couplets only the second lines are tied to this rhyme; this is the familiar scheme of the ghazal form. In the text given by Aktaş, a word in the last couplet is restored in square brackets ("[sen]"). There is no information on to whom the ghazal was addressed.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The subject of the poem is unrequited love, and the ghazal treats it less with ornate images than with plain, speech-like sentences. The opening couplet begins with "biliriz" (we know): the lover accepts from the outset that the beloved does not love her, but says with equal firmness that she will not give up loving. There is a contrast between the two lines; one voices the beloved's indifference, the other the lover's devotion. The redif "olmaz" also looks in two directions in the two lines: love does not exist in the beloved, and giving up does not exist in the lover.

The second couplet adds a small conversation scene to the ghazal. The lover tells her trouble, and the beloved gives her a direct reply: this lover's life will pass in the pain of separation and there will be no union. In divan poetry the beloved's words are mostly relayed through the lover's mouth; here too the reply comes in an indirect manner, with the verb "dimiş" (is said to have said). The third and fourth couplets express the longing for union in bodily images: kissing the neck and mouth, taking the silver-bodied beauty into the ring of the embrace. "Sîm-endâm" (silver-bodied) is a common epithet for the beloved's whiteness; "hâle-i âġûş" (ring of the embrace) likens the embrace to the halo around the moon, and so indirectly likens the beloved to the moon. In the fourth couplet the repetition "baña ancaḳ baña" (to me, only to me) stresses that the refusal is specific to the lover; the door that is open to others is closed to her.

In the closing couplet (makta) the poet addresses herself and draws a conclusion from the whole ghazal: whoever gives her heart to a faithless beloved will not see peace. A poet's counselling herself in the pen-name couplet is a common way of closing a divan ghazal. Aktaş cites the plain, understandable language and the sparing use of Arabic and Persian compounds as the most visible feature the anthology ghazals share with Mihrî's divan; this ghazal is a good example of that plainness. That subjects such as union, separation and the ordeal the lover endures are treated both in the anthology and in the divan is also among the similarities Aktaş lists, but these subjects are at the same time the common property of all ghazal poets of the period and do not by themselves settle the attribution.

Bibliography

  • Mutlu Muhammet Aktaş, "Mihrî Hatun'un Yayımlanmamış Gazelleri", Hikmet-Akademik Edebiyat Dergisi 9/18 (Spring 2023), pp. 120-121, ghazal 15 (Kütahya Vahid Paşa İl Halk Ktp. 43 Va 2871 Mecmû‘a-i Eş‘âr, f. 66b); discussion of attribution pp. 110-112, 124. doi:10.28981/hikmet.1200789. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/2757129

Online sources