Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Vezin: Mefâ‘ilün Fe‘ilâtün Mefâ‘ilün Fe‘ilün

Ḫudâ yaratdı m'ola bî-sitâre bencileyin
Felek getürdi m'ola baḫtı ḳara bencileyin
Cihânda çoḳ durur ammâ belâ-keş ‘âşıḳlar
Kimesne uġramadı âh u zâra bencileyin
Meger ki ney ola hem-dem fiġânuma her-dem
K'olup durur yüregi pâre pâre bencileyin
Göñül evinde bir ‘âşıḳ ḥabîbinüñ ismin
Yazar mı âhı ile her divâra bencileyin
Cihâna geleli Mihrî dir irdügine ‘aceb
Ḫudâ yaratdı m'ola bî-sitâre bencileyin

In English

1. I wonder, did God create anyone as starless (unlucky) as I? I wonder, did fate bring anyone into the world as black-fated as I? (In the old belief a person's fortune depends on the star under which he is born; bî-sitâre, "without a star", means unlucky.)

2. There are many lovers in the world who bear affliction, but no one has met with sighs and laments as I have.

3. Only the reed flute (ney) could keep company with my lament at every moment; for its heart too has been broken to pieces, like mine. (The ney is made from a cut and pierced reed; its hollow, perforated body is likened to a heart in pieces.)

4. In the house of the heart, is there a lover who, as I do, writes the name of her beloved with her sigh on every wall? (In the F manuscript "âhı ile" ("with her sigh") is read as "eli ile": "writes with her hand".)

5. Mihrî, astonished at what has befallen her since she came into the world, says: I wonder, did God create anyone as starless as I?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The hundred and twenty-first ghazal (gazel) of the divan has five couplets (beyit) and is composed in the müctess variety of aruz (quantitative metre), in the pattern "Mefâ‘ilün Fe‘ilâtün Mefâ‘ilün Fe‘ilün". Its redif (refrain word) is "bencileyin" ("like me"); the rhyme is built on the sounds "-âre / -ara" (bî-sitâre, ḳara, zâra, pâre, divâra). The second line of the closing couplet (makta) repeats the first line of the opening couplet (matla) exactly; the ghazal thus closes with the question with which it began, and this repetition gives the poem a closed, ring-like structure. The ghazal appears in all four manuscripts; in the F manuscript the third and fourth couplets stand in a different order. Nothing is known about whom it was written for.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The subject of the ghazal is the poet's ill fortune, and in every couplet this ill fortune is tied to a comparison by the redif "like me". The poet measures herself against all the lovers of the world and says that none has reached her degree. In this way the redif also expresses a uniqueness hidden inside a humble complaint: other lovers too suffer affliction, but no one has met with so many sighs and laments.

The opening couplet is built on two questions and states a wonder with the word "m'ola" ("I wonder"). These questions, whose answer is in fact known, form a manner of speaking close to the figure of feigned ignorance (tecâhül-i ârif): the poet knows that no one as unlucky as herself was created, but she asks it in the form of a question. Gülşen Kaya cites this couplet in two separate places, noting that the use of the expression "bî-sitâre" as a notion of fortune is remarkable as evidence of a belief that fortune is tied to the stars, that in the divan the stars are held to matter in a person's fortune, and that "bî-sitâre" expresses ill luck. In the lines "Ḫudâ" and "felek", "bî-sitâre" and "baḫtı ḳara" complete one another; in the old understanding the felek is the order of the heavens that turns a person's fate.

The third couplet carries the most beautiful image of the ghazal. The poet says the only being that could keep company with her lament at every moment is the ney, for the heart of the ney too is "pâre pâre", in pieces, like hers. The ney is an instrument made by cutting and piercing a reed; its hollow, perforated body and its burning voice are likened in divan poetry to the state of the grieving lover. There is a pun (cinas), based on similarity of sound, between the words "hem-dem" and "her-dem"; the link between "fiġân" (lament) and "ney" rests on the ney's plaintive sound.

The fourth couplet imagines the heart as a house. The lover has written the name of her beloved with her sigh on every wall of this house. Kaya cites this couplet in noting that in the divan the name of the beloved is written on the walls of the house of the heart. That the sigh is imagined as a fiery breath makes it possible for it to be used like a pen that leaves its mark on a wall; the reading "eli ile" ("with her hand") in the F manuscript turns the image into a plainer scene of writing. The makta says that Mihrî, astonished at what has befallen her since she came into the world, asks the question of the matla again; the repetition of the same line leaves the impression that the poet has been asking this question all her life.

Bibliography

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, pp. 114-115, Ghazal 121 (F 60a, M 85a, S 62a, Ü 55b). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Divânı'nın Tahlili, MA thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2010, pp. 117, 205, 253. openaccess.firat.edu.tr