Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün

Dostum ‘arż it cemâlüñ cânımuz bulsun feraḥ
Küfr-i zülfüñi görüp îmânımuz bulsun feraḥ
Çün dile dilber ḫayâli geldi mihmân olmaġa
Pîş-keş cân virelüm mihmânımuz bulsun feraḥ
Câm-ı la‘linden nigâruñ sâḳiyâ bir bâde ṣun
Meclisimüz germ olup devrânımuz bulsun feraḥ
Ẓulmeti bir cur‘a ile ḫâne-i dilden götür
Ol ṣafâdan külbe-i aḥzânımuz bulsun feraḥ
Ḫûblaruñ vaṣfın i Mihrî şöyle taḳrîr eyle sen
Kim oḳursa defter ü dîvânımuz bulsun feraḥ

In English

1. My friend, show your face, that our souls may be gladdened; seeing the "unbelief" of your hair, may our faith be gladdened. (The root meaning of küfür is "to cover". The black hair that covers the face is likened to unbelief, and the bright face to faith. The lover's faith rejoices at the sight of the hair that veils the face, for once the hair is seen the face is seen too.)

2. Since the beloved's image has come to the heart as a guest, let us offer our souls as a gift, that our guest may be pleased.

3. O cupbearer, pour a draught from the beloved's ruby cup; may our gathering grow warm and our time, with the cup going round, be gladdened. ("La‘l" means both the red precious stone and the lips. "Devrân" means both time and fortune, and the passing of the cup from hand to hand in the gathering.)

4. With one sip, drive the darkness from the house of the heart; from that joy, may our hut of sorrows too be gladdened. ("Külbe-i aḥzân", the hut of sorrows, is a phrase that recalls the house where Jacob, weeping for his son Joseph, passed his years.)

5. O Mihrî, describe the beauties in such a way that whoever reads our notebook and our divan will be gladdened.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The twelfth ghazal (gazel) has five couplets (beyit) and is written in the same pattern as the previous ghazal, the metre "Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün". The rhyme is the sounds "-ânımuz" (cânımuz, îmânımuz, mihmânımuz, devrânımuz, aḥzânımuz, dîvânımuz); "bulsun feraḥ" (may it find joy) is the redif (refrain word). Because the redif is built on an optative, every couplet of the ghazal ends in a wish, and this gives the poem from beginning to end the air of an invitation, the opening of a gathering. Since the last word of the redif, "feraḥ", ends in the letter ḥâ, the ghazal is placed in the edition in the section "Ḥarfü'l-Ḥâ". The poem is found in all four manuscripts (F 35b, M 50a, S 38a, Ü 30a). There is no record of to whom or on what occasion it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal reads as though it described, step by step, the setting up of a gathering. First the beloved is asked to show her face; then her image comes to the heart as a guest; then the cupbearer is asked for wine; the darkness is dispelled with a sip; and in the last couplet the poet turns to her own poetry. In each couplet joy is wished to reach a different place: the soul, faith, the guest, the gathering, the hut of sorrows, and at last the divan.

The opening couplet holds one of the most used contrasts of divan poetry. Gülşen Kaya cites this couplet when examining the religious concepts in Mihrî's divan: küfür means "covering", and what covers the truth is expressed with black, while faith is bright and open. The beloved's hair that veils the face is therefore called "küfr-i zülf", the unbelief of the hair, and the face corresponds to faith. In the couplet antithesis (tezat) is set up between "küfr" and "îmân", and between "cemâl" (face) and "zülf" (hair). The subtlety of the couplet lies in faith's rejoicing at the sight of unbelief: to see the hair is to come near to seeing the face. Kaya also mentions the same couplet among the similes about hair, and counts the likening of hair to unbelief and of the face to faith among the often repeated conceits of the divan.

In the second couplet the beloved's image becomes a guest of the heart and the lover offers this guest her soul as a "pîş-keş", a gift. The turning of the custom of hospitality into the language of love brings the couplet close to everyday life. In the third couplet a picture of a drinking gathering is built from the words sâki (cupbearer), câm (cup), bâde (wine), meclis (gathering) and devrân. Kaya, listing the objects that appear in the divan, gives this couplet as her example for câm (cup). The phrase "câm-ı la‘l" describes both the cup filled with red wine and the beloved's lips; asking for wine from the beloved's lips adds a second meaning to the couplet. The word "devrân" is also two-sided: besides its sense of time and fortune it suggests the cup turning from hand to hand in the gathering.

In the fourth couplet darkness and light, sorrow and ṣafâ (pleasure) are set against each other. "Bir cur‘a" is a single sip of wine; this sip, which lights the house of the heart, carries joy to the hut of sorrow as well. In the last couplet Mihrî turns the speech to herself and ties the telling of the beauties' praise to the value of her own divan. The word "dîvân" here means a book of poems; its mention together with "defter" forms a congruence of images (tenasüp) between the two words. The reading "defter-i dîvân" in manuscripts F, M and S joins the two words in a single phrase and gives the sense "the notebook of the divan"; the edition follows here the reading "defter ü dîvân" of manuscript Ü.

Bibliography

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, p. 57, Gazel 12 (F 35b, M 50a, S 38a, Ü 30a) and the footnotes on manuscript variants. ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Divânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2010 (entries on faith and unbelief, hair, and objects). openaccess.firat.edu.tr