Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Yoġ imiş çünkim naṣîbüm vaṣl-ı cânân olmadan
El yudum şimden girü derdüme dermân olmadan
Ḥoḳḳa-i la‘linden aġyâra müferriḥler virür
Ben ıraḳdan olmışamdur aña ḥayrân olmadan
Hecr ile yandı göyündi ḳalmadı cândan es̱er
Āteş-i tennûr-ı ġamda sîne biryân olmadan
Olalı şeydâsı bir ẕerre günâhum bilmezem
Her ne dirse dilberüñ emrine fermân olmadan
Raḥm idem bir gün dimiş bî-çâre Mihrî'ye ḥabîb
Bu kelâmı ṣaḳlasun yâ Rabbi yalan olmadan

In English

1. Since union with the beloved is not in my lot, from now on I have washed my hands of it (given it up), before any remedy for my pain has been found.

2. From the ruby casket of her lip the beloved hands out refreshing cordials (müferrih) to the rivals; and I have been left far away, without even the chance to gaze at her in admiration from close by. (The couplet can be read in two ways. Arslan's reading "ıraḳdan olmışam" gives this sense. With the reading "araḳdan ölmişem" in Havlioğlu's text, the line means "before admiring her, before even seeing her, I have died of sweat, that is, of the sweat of shame and torment.")

3. I burned with separation, I caught fire, no trace of my soul remained; this before my breast could be roasted in the tandoor fire of grief.

4. Since I became her devotee I know of no sin in myself, not even a speck; I have done nothing but bow to the beloved's command, whatever she says.

5. The beloved is said to have told helpless Mihrî, "One day I will have mercy"; O Lord, keep this word from turning out a lie. (With the reading "ider" in the F, M and S manuscripts, the beloved's word is reported in the third person: "one day she will have mercy.")

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The hundred and thirty-fifth ghazal has five couplets and is written in the remel metre in the pattern "Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "olmadan"; the rhyme is built on the sounds "-ân" that precede it (cânân, dermân, ḥayrân, biryân, fermân). In the closing couplet the word "yalan" stands in the rhyme position; with its short vowel this word completes the series loosely in sound. In Arslan's edition the manuscripts on which the ghazal rests are given as M and Ü, but the manuscript note on the last couplet also mentions the F and S manuscripts. It stands in the section of the letter Nûn in the Divan. It is not known to whom it was written. In Havlioğlu's text it appears as ghazal 138.

The meaning of the redif changes from couplet to couplet, and this is the most interesting linguistic side of the ghazal. The context requires the suffix to be understood in some places as "without", in others as "before it becomes", and in others as "other than being". In the opening couplet "derman olmadan" means "without a remedy being found"; in the third couplet "kebap olmadan" means "before it becomes roast meat"; in the fourth couplet "fermân olmadan" is understood as "other than being obedient to a command". The "yalan olmadan" of the last couplet also comes close to "from being a lie". The use of the same word in a different function in each couplet keeps the redif from being a monotonous repetition.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal opens with the voice of a lover who has lost hope. If union is not in one's lot, one even gives up looking for a remedy for the pain; the idiom "el yumak", to wash one's hands, expresses giving something up for good. In the second couplet the beloved's lip is a "ḥoḳḳa", that is, a small casket for jewels or medicine. In divan poetry the beloved's mouth, because of its smallness and redness, is likened to a casket of ruby; the word or kiss that comes out of it is a paste or cordial that brings ease to the heart, a "müferriḥ". That this medicine is offered to the rivals while the lover stands by is the heart of the lover's complaint. There is a clear congruence of images (tenasüp) among the words casket, ruby and müferrih. If the reading "araḳ" in Havlioğlu's text is accepted, this word, which carries the meaning of distilled spirit beside the meaning of sweat, is tied to the same associations of medicine and sherbet.

The third couplet is one of the places where Mihrî describes the fire of separation most concretely. Separation has burned the lover and set her alight, leaving no trace of her soul; and this has happened before the breast is roasted in the tandoor of grief. Gülşen Kaya explains through this couplet that in the Divan separation and grief are likened to fire for their burning power, that the soul kept away from the beloved burns with separation, and that in the tandoor of grief the breast and liver are roasted. The words fire, tandoor, burning, göyünmek and biryân form a chain of congruence; the pain described is enlarged by hyperbole.

In the fourth couplet the lover defends herself: since the day she became enamoured she has not the least sin; she has done whatever the beloved said. Kaya cites this couplet when explaining that the lover endures everything for the beloved's sake, takes her cruelty upon her head and eyes, and still cannot please her. The closing couplet ends with a small hope. The beloved has said that one day she will have mercy on Mihrî; the poet takes refuge in God that this word not turn out false. That the lover who gave up union at the beginning of the ghazal clings to a promise again at the end gives the poem a state of mind, particular to divan poetry, that swings between hope and despair.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, pp. 121-122, Ghazal 135 (M 85b, Ü 58b). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Academic studies

  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2010, pp. 191, 231, 274. openaccess.firat.edu.tr

Other sources

  • Didem Havlioğlu (ed.), "Ğazeliyyāt-ı Mihri-i Hāqīre", türkoloji-iran, 2007 (a different transliteration of the ghazal, ghazal 138).

Online sources