Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Kûy-ı cânân çün yeter mesken baña şimden girü
Yüri zâhid cennetüñi var saña şimden girü
Şu‘le-i yârüñ cemâliyle münevver olmışuz
İmdi ey meh var ḳalursañ ḳal ṭaña şimden girü
Gördi beni zülfini dilber dişine aldı çün
Bildüm anuñ meyli var benden yaña şimden girü
Luṭf ile cânân çıḳardı ġam belâsından beni
Ġuṣṣa çekmem ṣarlanursam bûriyâ şimden girü
Ruḫları bâġında geçdi ‘ömrümüz ey vây ile
Umaruz şeftâludan geh geh aña şimden girü
Gülsitânda ġonca la‘lin gördi yârüñ lâle çün
Ṭaġlara düşüp didi yâ hû saña şimden girü
Mihrî'ye vaṣlı ḥabîbinüñ müyesser oldı çün
Yolına cân virmek âsândur aña şimden girü

In English

1. Since the beloved's quarter is enough for me as a dwelling from now on, go on, O ascetic, let your Paradise be yours from now on.

2. We have been lit by the flame of the beloved's beauty, by its light; so now, O moon, go if you wish, or stay, and if you stay, stay bewildered from now on. (The lover, having found the light of the beloved's face, has no need of the moonlight; the moon, too, stands staring in amazement at this beauty. The F manuscript reads "tennûr" in place of "münevver", the Ü manuscript "müşerref"; with the reading "müşerref" the line means "we have been honoured by the beloved's beauty".)

3. When the beloved saw me she took the tip of her curl between her teeth; I understood that from now on her heart inclines toward me.

4. The beloved was kind and rescued me from the calamity of grief; from now on I will suffer no sorrow even if I wrap myself in a rush mat. (The rush mat is a symbol of poverty and of withdrawing from the world. The Ü manuscript reads "ṣarınursam", that is, "if I were to be clothed in a mat".)

5. Our life passed in the garden of her cheeks, saying "alas"; from now on we hope now and then for a peach from that garden. (In divan poetry the peach stands for the kiss.)

6. When the tulip in the rose garden saw the beloved's ruby lip, like a rosebud, it fell away to the mountains and said, "Ya Hu, from now on the garden is yours." (The tulip's growing in the mountains and fields is tied to its defeat before the beloved's lip and its leaving the garden. "Ya Hu" is a dervish invocation and cry.)

7. Since Mihrî has been granted union with her beloved, from now on it is easy for her to give her life on her road.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The hundred and thirty-eighth 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 "şimden girü", that is, "from now on"; the rhyme is built on the sound "-a" (baña, saña, ṭaña, yaña, bûriyâ, aña, saña). In the sixth couplet the word "saña", used in the opening couplet, returns as a rhyme. The ghazal is found in all four manuscripts, F, M, S and Ü, and stands in the section of the letter Vâv in the Divan. It is not known to whom it was written. In Havlioğlu's text it appears as ghazal 141.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Among the Divan's ghazals full of separation and reproach, this poem stands apart in voicing the joy of a lover who has reached union. The words "from now on" in the redif announce a turning point in each couplet: the lover has now settled in the beloved's quarter, has been delivered from the calamity of grief, has understood that the beloved inclines toward her. The line in the closing couplet, "Mihrî'ye vaṣlı ḥabîbinüñ müyesser oldı", says this joy openly; after union even giving one's life has become easy.

The opening couplet rests on the contrast between lover and ascetic (zâhid) often seen in divan poetry. The ascetic is one who keeps away from worldly pleasures and worships in hope of Paradise; the lover prefers the beloved's quarter to Paradise. Ömer Yılmaz reads this couplet among the examples showing that Mihrî, like Sufis who put divine love first, such as Rabia al-Adawiyya, Ahmed Yesevî and Yunus Emre, wants God in place of Paradise. The images of hair, cheek, lip and kiss in the rest of the ghazal describe a human beloved; that the opening couplet can also carry a Sufi meaning is a typical example of how two layers of meaning can run side by side in divan poetry.

In the second couplet the beloved's face is a source of light; the lover lit by it has no need of the moon. Saying "stay if you wish" to the moon expresses the moon's defeat before the beloved's beauty. The third couplet is the liveliest scene of the ghazal: when the beloved sees the lover she takes the tip of her curl between her teeth, and the lover concludes from this gesture that the beloved is interested in her. Describing the beloved in an everyday, coquettish gesture gives the couplet the air of a lively scene. In Havlioğlu's text "dışına" is read in place of "dişine".

In the fifth couplet the cheek is a garden and the kiss is the peach of that garden; there is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among "ruḫ" (cheek), "bâġ" (garden) and "şeftâlu" (peach). The sixth couplet is a fine example of hüsn-i ta‘lil (fantastic etiology). A poetic reason is found for the tulip's growing more in the mountains and fields than in gardens: when the tulip saw the beloved's red lip, like a rosebud, it could not bear the rivalry, left the garden to her and fell away to the mountains. The word "Yâ hû" and the idiom "dağlara düşmek" (to take to the mountains) also recall the manner of a dervish, or of Majnun, who flings himself into the wilds in the grief of love. Among the words rose, rosebud, ruby, tulip and rose garden there is a congruence built on associations of colour and garden.

The "bûriyâ" of the fourth couplet, the rush mat, is a symbol of contentment and of giving up worldly goods. Because the lover has been delivered from grief by the beloved's kindness, she now accepts poverty; even wrapping herself in a mat will not sadden her. This idea ties naturally to the words in the closing couplet, "to give one's life is easy".

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, p. 123, Ghazal 138 (F 62a, M 88a, S 64a, 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. 236 for the opening couplet of this ghazal).

Other sources

  • Didem Havlioğlu (ed.), "Ğazeliyyāt-ı Mihri-i Hāqīre", türkoloji-iran, 2007 (a different transliteration of the ghazal, ghazal 141).

Online sources