Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Bilsem ki perî misin i cân yoḫsa firişte
Biñ cân ile sevdüm seni bir kerre görüşte
Gerçi ki müjeñ ḫançer ile sînemi deldi
Dil daḫi senüñdür diler isen meh al işte
Terk eyledüm ey yâr senüñ ‘ârı yoluñda
Rüsvâ-yı cihânum bugün ‘aşḳuñla bil işte
Kûyuñda gedâ olalı ey şâh-ı cihânum
Meyl eylemezem ẕerrece firdevs-i behişte
Dilber didi bir bûse virem cân virür iseñ
Mihrî didi bir câna ne minnet meh al işte

In English

1. O my soul, if only I knew whether you are a fairy or an angel; I loved you with a thousand souls at a single glimpse. (The F, M and S manuscripts read "are you an angel" in place of "are you a fairy".)

2. Although your eyelash pierced my breast like a dagger, my heart too is already yours; if you wish, take it, here. ("Meh" is an old Turkish word meaning "take, here".)

3. O beloved, on your road I have given up shame and concern for honour; know that today, through your love, I am disgraced before the whole world. (This couplet is absent from the F manuscript.)

4. O sovereign of my world, since I became a beggar in your quarter, my heart does not incline even a mote toward the garden of paradise.

5. The beloved said, "If you give your life, I will give you a kiss"; Mihrî said, "What obligation is there for a single life? Take it, here."

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The 145th ghazal (gazel) of the divan stands in the section for the letter ha and has five couplets (beyit). It is written in the hezec metre of the aruz (quantitative metre), in the pattern "Mef'ûlü Mefâ'îlü Mefâ'îlü Fa'ûlün". The ghazal has no separate redif (refrain word); the rhyme is built on the sound "-işte" (firişte, görüşte, al işte, bil işte, behişte). In this rhyme Persian words (firişte "angel", behişt "paradise") are matched in sound with Turkish expressions (görüşte, al işte, bil işte); the rhyme "meh al işte" is used twice, in the second and fifth couplets. The ghazal is found in all four manuscripts (F 63a, M 88b, S 65a, Ü 60a). The F, M and S manuscripts read "melek misin" in place of "perî misin" in the opening couplet, and the third couplet is absent from the F manuscript. There is no information on whom it was written for.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is a poem of love born at first sight and of giving up everything for that love. In the opening couplet the poet says she cannot tell whether the beloved is a fairy or an angel. In reality she knows the beloved is a human being; she feigns ignorance in order to count her beauty as beyond the human. In divan poetry this manner of speaking is called tecâhül-i ârif (feigned ignorance). Gülşen Kaya notes that in Mihrî's divan the beloved is likened to the fairy and the angel for her beauty and her vanishing at once from sight, that the fairy is sometimes used merely as a form of address, and she cites this opening couplet as an example.

In the second couplet the beloved's eyelashes are likened to a dagger. Kaya explains with this couplet that the eyelash is likened to a dagger because of its curved shape, that the beloved wishes to cut open the breast with this dagger and take the heart, but that the lover has long since given her heart to her. The lover's attitude is surrender: there was no need to pierce my breast, the heart is already yours, take it, here. In the third couplet, for the sake of love, "'âr", shame and concern for honour, has been abandoned, and the lover has been disgraced before the world. To be disgraced (rüsvâ) is a state the true lover does not shun in divan poetry. In the fourth couplet the contrast of shah and beggar is used: being a beggar in the beloved's quarter appeals to the lover more than paradise. Preferring the beloved's door to paradise is a common way of saying that love is greater, for the lover, than any reward.

The closing couplet is a small scene of conversation. The beloved asks for a life as the price of a kiss; Mihrî, saying she will feel no obligation over a single life, gives her life at once. This question-and-answer manner between beloved and lover is a form of closing often seen in divan poetry. The fact that the words "meh al işte" appear in the same form in the second couplet ties the two ends of the poem together: in the second couplet the heart, in the last the life, is given to the beloved with the same ease. The language of the ghazal is plain and close to speech; everyday expressions such as "al işte" and "bil işte" give the poem a sincere tone.

Bibliography

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, p. 127, Ghazal 145 (F 63a, M 88b, S 65a, Ü 60a). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Divânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2010 (entries on fairy and angel, and eyelash and dagger). openaccess.firat.edu.tr