Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ûlü Mefâ‘îlü Mefâ‘îlü Fa‘ûlün

Çün perdesini keşf ide gül bülbüle ḳarşu
Bülbül daḫi cân virse ‘aceb mi güle ḳarşu
Terk-i dil ü cân eyledüm ey dost rehüñde
Geh geh kerem it baṣ ḳademüñ o yola ḳarşu
Zülfüñ ṣanemâ her yaña cânlar ḳılur efşân
Depretse ṣabâ zülfüñi ger sünbüle ḳarşu
‘Āşıḳlaruñ iñletme gel ey rûḥ-ı revânum
Seni sevenüñ yüzine bârî güle ḳarşu
Mihrüñde senüñ bir gün eyâ mâh-liḳâ âh
Fâş eyleyiser sırruñı Mihrî ele ḳarşu

In English

1. When the rose lifts its veil before the nightingale, is it any wonder if the nightingale gives its life before the rose? (The rose's veil is the petals that enclose it before it opens; when the rose opens, the nightingale is enraptured and beside itself.)

2. O friend, I have given up heart and soul on your road; now and then be kind and set your foot toward that road.

3. O beauty, whenever the morning breeze shakes your hair against the hyacinth, your curl scatters souls in every direction. (The hyacinth is a flower likened to the curl and scent of hair; a lover's heart is thought to be caught on every strand of the hair.)

4. O my flowing soul, come, do not make your lovers moan; at least smile in the face of the one who loves you. (The couplet plays on "güle ḳarşu": "before a rose" and "smile in the face of".)

5. O moon-faced one, because of your love, alas, one day Mihrî will reveal your secret before everyone. ("Mihr" means both love and the sun, and also recalls the poet's name.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The hundred and thirty-seventh ghazal has five couplets and is written in the hezec metre of the aruz, in the pattern "Mef‘ûlü Mefâ‘îlü Mefâ‘îlü Fa‘ûlün". The redif (refrain word) is "ḳarşu" (before, against); the rhyme is built on the sound "-le" (bülbüle, güle, sünbüle, güle, ele). "Yola" in the second couplet answers this sound with an "a". The ghazal is found in the F, M, S and Ü manuscripts and stands in the section of the letter Vâv in the Divan. According to Arslan's notes, the order of the couplets differs in the M manuscript; one note says that the second and third couplets are swapped, and another that the first four couplets are absent from this manuscript. It is not known to whom it was written. In Havlioğlu's text it appears as ghazal 140.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal opens with the story of the rose and the nightingale, one of the best-known motifs of divan poetry. The rose is the beloved, the nightingale the lover; when the rose lifts the veil from its face and opens, it is no wonder that the nightingale gives it its life. The word "perde" (veil) here describes the petals of the rose that stay closed while it is a bud; it also recalls the veil over the beloved's face. The couplet thus describes both a scene in the garden and the lover's rapture when the beloved unveils her face. The veiled likeness between this picture and the lover's own state widens the couplet through simile (teşbih) and allegory (temsil).

The most striking place of the ghazal in terms of sound is the words "güle ḳarşu" in the first and fourth couplets. In the opening couplet this phrase means "before the rose flower"; in the fourth couplet it means "smile (gül) in the face of". The use in rhyme position of two words that are written and pronounced alike but differ in meaning is a perfect example of homonymic pun (cinas). Mihrî supports this pun with the familiar link that comes from calling the opening of a rose "laughing"; the smile the lover expects of the beloved becomes the human-face counterpart of the opening of the rose.

The third couplet describes the beloved's hair. When the morning breeze waves the hair against the hyacinth, the hair scatters souls in every direction. The likening of hair to the hyacinth flower is because of its colour, curl and scent; the idea that a lover's heart hangs on every strand of hair is also common in divan poetry. In the couplet the words zülf, ṣabâ and sünbül form a congruence of images (tenasüp). In the fourth couplet the beloved is addressed as "rûḥ-ı revân"; the word "revân" is used both for "flowing" and for "spirit, soul", and it shows the beloved as the soul itself.

The closing couplet gives the ghazal an unexpected end. Mihrî says that one day she will reveal the beloved's secret before everyone. This makes an interesting contrast with the oath in the hundred and thirty-fourth ghazal, a few pages earlier in the Divan, "I will give my head but not reveal this secret to anyone"; the same poet swears in one ghazal to keep a secret, and in another admits that the secret will come out sooner or later. The word "Mihrüñde" at the head of the line plays with the poet's pen name: "mihr" means love and sun. Ömer Yılmaz recalls that the word "Mihr", the poet's name, is given in dictionaries with the meanings of love, passion and sun. Saying "in your mihr" to a moon-faced beloved also forms a congruence between moon and sun. In Havlioğlu's text the last line reads "Fâş eyleyiser sırruñı Mihrî ile ḳarşu"; the "ele ḳarşu" that Arslan reads, that is, "before strangers, before everyone", makes the sense clearer.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, pp. 122-123, Ghazal 137 (F 62a, M 88a, S 64b, Ü 59a). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Books

  • Ömer Yılmaz, "Amasyalı Halvetî Mihrî Hâtun'da Hz. Peygamber Sevgisi", Prof. Dr. Ethem Cebecioğlu'na Armağan, Ankara: İlahiyat, 2023, pp. 229-244 (p. 230 for the meanings of the word "Mihr").

Other sources

  • Didem Havlioğlu (ed.), "Ğazeliyyāt-ı Mihri-i Hāqīre", türkoloji-iran, 2007 (a different transliteration of the ghazal, ghazal 140).

Online sources