Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Niçe bir ‘izzet ideyin yâr içün aġyâra ben
Niçe bir yalvarayın bir gül içün biñ ḫâra ben
Ḳanda baḳsañ ḫârdur baġrına baṣan ġoncayı
‘Āciz oldum dostlar varmaġa bir gülzâra ben
Ḫâr-ı ġayret pâreler bir anda biñ kez cigerüm
Kendülügümle mi hem-dem oldum âh u zâra ben
Leblerüm sırrın dehânından çıḳarmasun dimiş
Ser virem bu sırrı hiç fâş itmeyem deyyâra ben
Yüz çevürür beni gördükçe raḳîbe meyl ider
Sevdügümden ġayri bilmem neyledüm ol yâre ben
Zülfine dilber beni ‘ahd eylemiş ber-dâr ide
Râżıyam biñ cân ile aṣılmaġa ol dâra ben
Ḫalḳ içinde Mihrî'yem ‘uşşâḳ içinde mübteẕel
Yâr ḳatında ‘âciz ü âvâre vü bî-çâre ben

In English

1. How long shall I show deference to the rivals for the beloved's sake; how long shall I plead with a thousand thorns for a single rose.

2. Wherever you look, it is a thorn that clasps the rosebud to its breast; friends, I have become unable to go to a rose garden. (The rosebud and the rose stand for the beloved, the thorn for the rival who never leaves her side.)

3. The thorn of jealousy tears my liver to pieces a thousand times in an instant; did I become a companion of sighs and laments by my own wish?

4. The beloved has said, "Let him not bring the secret of my lips out of his mouth"; I would give my head, but I will reveal this secret to no one. ("Deyyâr" means "anyone" in Arabic; "hiç deyyâr" means no one at all.)

5. Whenever she sees me she turns her face away and inclines toward the rival; I do not know what I have done to that beloved other than love her.

6. The beloved has promised to hang me from her curl, to make her hair my gallows; I am content, with a thousand lives, to be hanged on that gallows.

7. Among the people I am Mihrî, among lovers I am the despised one; before the beloved I am the helpless, wandering, forlorn one.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The hundred and thirty-fourth ghazal has seven couplets and is written in the remel metre in the pattern "Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is the pronoun "ben" (I); the rhyme is built on the sound "-âra" (aġyâra, ḫâra, gülzâra, zâra, deyyâra, dâra). In the fifth couplet the word "yâre", and in the closing couplet "bî-çâre", answer the same sound with an "e". In Arslan's edition the ghazal rests on the Ü manuscript alone and stands in the section of the letter Nûn in the Divan. There is no information about whom it was written for. In Havlioğlu's electronic text it appears as ghazal 137.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The subject of the ghazal is the weariness of a lover who has to put up with rivals in order to reach the beloved. In the opening couplet both lines begin with the same words "Niçe bir" (how long) and say the same thought in two different languages: in the first line, in plain speech, the beloved and the rival; in the second, in the language of the motif, the rose and the thorn. Gülşen Kaya cites this couplet as an example when explaining that in the Divan the thorn is used for the rival, and notes that alongside couplets in Mihrî that counsel putting up with the thorn in order to win the rose, there are also couplets that tire of pleading with the thorn for a rose. The second couplet widens the same picture: whichever garden one looks at, it is a thorn that clasps the rosebud to its breast. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among rose, rosebud, thorn and rose garden; through this couplet Kaya explains that rose, thorn and nightingale are the basic motifs of divan poetry that stand for the beloved, the rival and the lover.

In the third couplet the thorn is this time jealousy itself. The "thorn of jealousy" tears the liver to pieces a thousand times in an instant; the lover says she did not choose her companionship with sighs and laments. Kaya also includes this couplet when explaining that in the Divan the sigh is imagined as smoke rising from the burning liver. The fourth couplet speaks of a secret concerning the beloved's lip. The beloved does not want the secret of her lip to leave the lover's mouth; the lover, for her part, promises that she will give her head but not the secret. The connection between the words "leb" (lip) and "dehân" (mouth) suggests that the secret might be a kiss or a promise, but the poem does not say so openly.

The sixth couplet rests on a well-known invention of divan poetry: the long, curling hair is a rope, and the beloved is a ruler who has decided to hang the lover. There is a congruence of images among the words zülf, ber-dâr, aṣılmak and dâr; the repetition of "ber-dâr" and "dâr" in the same couplet strengthens the word. That the lover is content to be executed "with a thousand lives" expresses an outlook that counts death for the sake of love as a gain. Ömer Yılmaz reads a couplet in another ghazal of Mihrî, in which she says she will not turn back from the gallows like Mansur, as a clear allusion to Hallaj-i Mansur; the name of Mansur does not appear in this ghazal, but the idea of going willingly to the gallows is on the same line.

The closing couplet is an arrangement in which the poet introduces herself. Mihrî stands among the people under her known name, among lovers as "mübteẕel", that is, one whose worth has fallen, who is despised on everyone's tongue; before the beloved she is helpless, wandering and forlorn. The redif "ben" here links three different circles, and the poem closes with a word in which the poet plainly describes her own state. A woman poet naming herself as one despised among lovers may be thought of together with the gossip told about Mihrî in the tezkires (biographical anthologies of poets) of the period; but there is no record showing that this ghazal was tied to any particular event.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, p. 121, Ghazal 134 (Ü 58a). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Academic studies

  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2010, pp. 228, 248, 284. openaccess.firat.edu.tr
  • Enes İlhan, "Mihrî Hâtun mu Revânî mi? 'Ey Benüm Şiirüme Nazire Diyen' Kim?", Hikmet-Akademik Edebiyat Dergisi 10/20 (2024), pp. 148-170 (p. 152 for the love gossip involving Mihrî's name).

Books

  • Ömer Yılmaz, "Amasyalı Halvetî Mihrî Hâtun'da Hz. Peygamber Sevgisi", Prof. Dr. Ethem Cebecioğlu'na Armağan, Ankara: İlahiyat, 2023, pp. 229-244 (p. 236 for the Mansur allusion).

Other sources

  • Didem Havlioğlu (ed.), "Ğazeliyyāt-ı Mihri-i Hāqīre", türkoloji-iran, 2007 (a different transliteration of the ghazal, ghazal 137).

Online sources