Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Vezin: Mef‘ûlü Fâ‘ilâtü Mefâ‘îlü Fâ‘ilün

Bir bendesine düşmen işin yâri itmesün
Bir ḫaste ṣıḥḥat ister iken cânı gitmesün
Bâzâr-ı ‘aşḳ içinde beni hîçe ṣatdı yâr
Ayaġa düşdük ise yabanlara atmasun
Ol bî-vefâya billah eyit ey nesîm-i ṣubḥ
‘Aşḳı şehîdi derd ile öldi unutmasun
Her kişi itdügin bu cihânda bulur velî
Ben buldum uş ṣaḳın bunı düşmen işitmesün
Bî-ḳadre bu cihânda kimesne göñül virüp
Mihrî senüñ gibi emegi yele gitmesün

In English

1. Let the beloved not do to her own servant what an enemy would do; let a sick man who asks for healing not lose his life (while hoping to recover). (In the Ü manuscript the line reads "Biz bendesine düşmen işin bâri itmesün": "At least let her not treat us, her servants, as an enemy would.")

2. In the bazaar of love the beloved sold me for nothing; since we have fallen underfoot (lost all our worth), let her at least not throw us to strangers.

3. O morning breeze, tell that faithless one for God's sake: the martyr of her love died in pain; let her not forget it.

4. In this world everyone finds what he has done; and I have found it, so take care that no enemy hears of it. (With the reading "bulmadum" in the Ü manuscript the sense is reversed: "Everyone finds what he has done, but I did not find it," that is, I received no return for my love.)

5. O Mihrî, may no one in this world give his heart to one who does not value it and see his toil go to the wind, as yours has.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The hundred and nineteenth ghazal (gazel) of the divan has five couplets (beyit) and is composed in the muzâri variety of aruz (quantitative metre), in the pattern "Mef‘ûlü Fâ‘ilâtü Mefâ‘îlü Fâ‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is the negative optative suffix "-mesün / -masun", used in its front-vowel and back-vowel forms according to vowel harmony. The rhyme rests on the sound "t" before the suffix (it-, git-, at-, unut-, işit-). The word "gitmesün" is repeated in rhyming position in both the opening couplet (matla) and the closing couplet (makta), but with two different senses: in the matla "canı gitmek" ("to lose one's life") means to die, while in the makta "emeği yele gitmek" ("to see one's toil go to the wind") means to be wasted. The ghazal appears in all four manuscripts. Nothing is known about whom it was written for.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The main theme of the poem is toil that goes unrewarded, and the theme is told in the language of trade. In the second couplet love is a bazaar, and the beloved has sold the lover in this bazaar "hîçe", for nothing, at no value. Gülşen Kaya cites this couplet as an example in which love is imagined as a market where the lover is sold below her worth, and adds that even if the beloved sells her for nothing, being a lover has an undeniable value. The idiom "ayaġa düşmek" ("to fall underfoot") conveys both being trampled and becoming worthless and cheap; there is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among the words bazaar, sell, fall underfoot and throw away. The lover's last wish carries a bitter humility: if we have become worthless, let us at least not be thrown to strangers.

In the third couplet the familiar messenger of divan poetry, the morning breeze (nesîm-i ṣubḥ, saba), comes on the scene. The breeze is imagined as a courier carrying news between lover and beloved. The lover asks it to tell the beloved that the "martyr of love", that is, the lover herself, who died on the path of love, died in pain, and that the beloved should not forget this. The word "martyr" (şehîd) is an established motif that ties dying in love to a religious exaltation.

The fourth couplet uses an old saying, "everyone finds what he has done", and turns it into a personal confession. According to the reading "Ben buldum uş" ("Now I have found it") in Arslan's text, the poet admits she has found the penalty for what she did and fears that the enemy will hear of it, that is, will gloat over her. The reading "bulmadum" ("I did not find") in the Ü manuscript turns the couplet toward reproach: everyone finds what he has done, but the poet has not found a return for the love she gave. Both readings suit the general mood of the ghazal; the first is a regret, the second a complaint.

In the makta Mihrî addresses herself and offers what has befallen her to others as a warning: let no one give his heart to one who does not value it and see his toil go to the wind as hers has. The idiom "emeği yele gitmek" joins the language of the bazaar and of selling in the second couplet and closes the ghazal like an account built on profit and loss. The poem's manner of speech rests less on ornate comparisons than on everyday Turkish idioms (the enemy's deed, to sell for nothing, to fall underfoot, to find what one has done, to see one's toil go to the wind), which gives the ghazal a plain and direct voice.

Bibliography

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, pp. 113-114, Ghazal 119 (F 60b, M 86b, S 62b, Ü 55b). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Divânı'nın Tahlili, MA thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2010, p. 244. openaccess.firat.edu.tr