Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün

Bu göñlüm zevraḳın aldı bugün bir ġonca-leb gül-ruḫ
Yaşum deryâsına ṣaldı bugün bir ġonca-leb gül-ruḫ
Bülend-i ḳaddi nâz ile ṣalınup ser-firâz ile
Gülistân ṣaḥnına geldi bugün bir ġonca-leb gül-ruḫ
Belâ-keş bülbülüm bildi fiġânumdan ṣafâ buldı
Yüzime gül gibi güldi bugün bir ġonca-leb gül-ruḫ
Dile gerçi cefâ ḳıldı yerine biñ vefâ ḳıldı
Bize vaṣlın ‘aṭâ ḳıldı bugün bir ġonca-leb gül-ruḫ
Alup şîrîn zebân ile elinden Mihrî'nüñ varın
Aha geldüm didi yeldi bugün bir ġonca-leb gül-ruḫ

In English

1. A beauty with rosebud lips and rose cheeks took the boat of my heart today; today that beauty, rosebud-lipped and rose-cheeked, cast it into the sea of my tears. (The heart is likened to a boat, the abundant tears to a sea.)

2. That tall beauty came today into the middle of the rose garden, swaying with coquetry, her head held high. (Manuscript Ü reads "ṣalındı" in place of "ṣalınup": she swayed with coquetry, she came with head held high.)

3. She understood that I am a nightingale who endures affliction and liked my lament; today that beauty, rosebud-lipped and rose-cheeked, laughed in my face like a rose. (The nightingale's lament opens the rosebud; the lover's moaning likewise makes the beloved smile.)

4. Though she was cruel to the heart, she showed a thousand acts of fidelity in its place; today that beauty, rosebud-lipped and rose-cheeked, granted us union. (With the reading "birine" in manuscripts M, S and Ü: for one cruelty she showed a thousand acts of fidelity.)

5. With her sweet tongue she took whatever Mihrî had in hand; she said "Here I am" and ran off, today, that beauty, rosebud-lipped and rose-cheeked. ("Yelmek" in Old Turkish means to run, to go in haste.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The thirteenth ghazal (gazel) has five couplets (beyit) and is written in the hezec metre of the aruz (quantitative metre), in the pattern "Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün". What draws attention in the ghazal is the length of the redif (refrain word): the phrase "bugün bir ġonca-leb gül-ruḫ" is repeated at the end of every couplet and takes up nearly half a line. The rhyme is the sounds "-ldı/-ldi" just before the redif (aldı, ṣaldı, geldi, güldi, ḳıldı, yeldi). Because the last word of the redif, "gül-ruḫ", ends in the letter ḫı, the poem is placed in the edition in the section "Ḥarfü'l-Ḫâ". It is found in all four manuscripts (F 36a, M 50b, S 38a, Ü 30b). It is not known to whom it was written.

The metre divides each line into four equal parts, and the poet marks this division with internal rhymes. In the first line of the second couplet "nâz ile" and "ser-firâz ile" rhyme, in the third couplet "bildi" and "buldı", and in the fourth the "ḳıldı" repeated three times rhymes in the middle of the line. "Geldi", "güldi" and "ḳıldı" in the first half of the second lines are tied to the ghazal's main rhyme. Each couplet is thus built of short pieces whose sounds call to one another, and the poem gains a flow like singing.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal tells of a meeting that begins and ends within a single day. The word "bugün" (today) in the redif recalls this in every couplet. The beloved first takes the heart and throws it into the sea of tears, then comes to the rose garden swaying with coquetry, laughs at the lover's lament, shows fidelity in place of cruelty and grants union, and in the last couplet takes whatever the lover has in hand, says "Here I am" and runs off. In the divan ghazal the couplets are often separate units complete in themselves; in this ghazal they follow one another like the links of a story.

In the opening couplet (matla) the heart is likened to a boat (zevrak) and the tears to a sea. Gülşen Kaya cites this couplet when examining the similes of the sea and the boat of the heart in Mihrî's divan: the lover's tears, in their abundance, have become a sea that swallows the boat of the heart, and the one who cast the boat into this sea is the rosebud-lipped, rose-cheeked beloved. The phrase "ġonca-leb gül-ruḫ" in the redif places side by side two similes, the lip likened to the rosebud and the cheek to the rose. Kaya mentions the second couplet in the entry on the rose, and the third where she describes the relation of rose and nightingale: rosebuds open at the nightingale's lament, and in answer to the lover's moaning the beloved smiles, and that smile is enough for the lover.

In the second couplet the words "bülend" (tall), "ḳadd" (stature) and "ser-firâz" (head held high) describe the beloved's tall, cypress-like figure; the verb "ṣalınmak" (to sway) also recalls the swaying of the cypress in the wind. In the third couplet the lover introduces herself as a "belâ-keş bülbül", a nightingale that endures affliction, and a congruence of images (tenasüp) is formed with the words rose, nightingale, lament and laughing. In the expression "gül gibi güldi" the word gül is used both as the name of the flower and as the root of the verb "gülmek" (to laugh), making a pun (cinas) between the two. In the fourth couplet cruelty and fidelity are set against each other; the difference between "yerine" (in its place) and "birine" (for one) among the manuscripts also changes the sense of the couplet: one says that fidelity came in place of cruelty, the other that a thousand acts of fidelity were shown for each cruelty.

The pen-name couplet (makta) reverses the mood of the ghazal. The beloved, with sweet words, takes Mihrî's "varı", that is, everything she owns, says "Aha geldüm" (Here I am) and "yeldi", runs off. The couplet can be understood in two ways: either the beloved announced her coming and left at once, or the word "I have come" is a deception and the meeting never took place. In either reading the union described in the earlier couplets turns into a short and costly joy. The poem's fine mockery is gathered in the contrast in the last couplet between "şîrîn zebân" (sweet tongue) and "elinden varın almak" (taking what is in one's hand).

Bibliography

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, pp. 57-58, Gazel 13 (F 36a, M 50b, S 38a, Ü 30b) 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 the sea, the boat of the heart, the rose and the nightingale). openaccess.firat.edu.tr