Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ûlü Mefâ‘îlün Mef‘ûlü Mefâ‘îlün

Bu yâr-ı cefâ-kârum maḥbûb idi vaḳtinde
Bu gözleri mekkârum ḫoş ḫûb idi vaḳtinde
Gül-ruḫlar idi ḫande şehlerdi buña bende
Şeftâlusı turfanda merġûb idi vaḳtinde
Ebrûsı kemân idi ṣayd itdügi cân idi
Bir ġonca dehân idi maṭlûb idi vaḳtinde
Cânlardı buña ḳurbân baḳmazdı yüze bir ân
‘Āşıḳları hep ḳurbân-âşûb idi vaḳtinde
Şimdi ḫaṭını Mihrî gördükçe ḫadinde dir
Bu yâr-ı cefâ-kârum maḥbûb idi vaḳtinde

In English

1. This tormenting beloved of mine was once loved by all; these deceitful eyes of mine were once fair and lovely.

2. Once she had a rose-cheeked face that smiled; kings were her slaves. When her peach was early fruit, it was a fruit everyone coveted. (The peach is a metaphor for the beloved's cheek and kiss; "turfanda" is the first and freshest produce of its season. The first line can also be understood as "rose-cheeked ones would smile before her".)

3. Once her eyebrow was a bow, and what it hunted was the soul; her mouth was a bud, and everyone sought her.

4. Once souls were sacrificed to her, while she did not look at anyone's face for a moment; all her lovers were in turmoil, each wanting to be the sacrifice. (The meaning of the second line is not certain; the phrase "ḳurbân-âşûb" can be understood as the tumult caused by the rush to become a sacrifice.)

5. Now whenever Mihrî sees the down on her cheek, she says, "This tormenting beloved of mine was once a beloved."

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The 148th 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'îlün Mef'ûlü Mefâ'îlün". This pattern divides each line into two equal parts and gives the poem a lively rhythm close to song. The redif (refrain word) is "idi vaḳtinde" (once it was so), and the rhyme is the sound "-ûb" (maḥbûb, ḫûb, merġûb, maṭlûb, âşûb). In the table in which Sıtkı Nazik collects the refrains in Mihrî's divan, the refrain "idi vaktinde" appears only in this ghazal. The most obvious formal feature of the ghazal is its internal rhymes: the first three parts of the couplets rhyme among themselves, and the fourth part ends with the main rhyme and the refrain. In the third couplet, for example, the arrangement is "Ebrûsı kemân idi / ṣayd itdügi cân idi / Bir ġonca dehân idi / maṭlûb idi vaḳtinde". Ghazals with such internal rhymes are called musammat ghazals. The first line of the opening couplet is repeated exactly as the second line of the last couplet. The ghazal is found only in the Istanbul University manuscript (Ü 61a). There is no information on whom it was written for.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is spoken about a beloved whose beauty has passed. The first four couplets describe the beloved's former state, and each couplet ends with the refrain "idi vaḳtinde" (once it was so). This refrain recalls in every couplet that all the beauties listed now belong to the past. The beloved was once loved, lovely, sought after and in demand; kings were her slaves, souls were sacrificed to her, and she looked at no one's face. The meaning of the poem opens fully only in the last couplet: when Mihrî sees the down (ḫaṭ) appearing on the beloved's cheek, she understands that all this is in the past, and repeats the line of the opening couplet, this time as a verdict.

In divan poetry hat is the fine down newly appearing on the cheeks of the young; it is counted as an element of beauty on the one hand, and on the other is seen as the herald of beauty's end. Gülşen Kaya notes that in Mihrî's divan hat is thought of as a thorn that surrounds the rose-cheek, a soldier that covers the face, and a cloud that veils the moon-face; in the line of the divan "Almadan bir berg-i gül ḫaddüñden irdi ḫaṭṭuñ âh" the lover complains that the down came before she could pluck even one petal from the rose of the cheek. In this ghazal, however, the down is the sign of the beloved's fall from favour. The poet's mocking attitude gives the poem a touch of satire: the beloved who once scorned her lovers has now herself become a beauty of the past.

The words peach and turfanda in the second couplet express this idea through a fruit comparison. Turfanda is the first produce of its season and is most sought after then; when its season passes its value falls. Since the peach is also used for the beloved's cheek and kiss, the word is double-meaning. In the third couplet the eyebrow is likened to a bow and the mouth to a bud; the fact that what the bow of the eyebrow hunts is the soul expresses that the beloved takes the lovers' lives with her glances. Kaya cites this couplet as an example of the beloved hunting the lover's soul with her bow eyebrows. It is also notable that in the opening couplet the beloved is called "gözleri mekkârum" (my deceitful-eyed one); Kaya refers to this couplet when explaining the likening of the eye to the narcissus on account of its languor.

The musammat structure also supports the meaning of the poem. In each couplet three short parts in succession list a quality of the beloved, and the fourth part ties them all to the past with the refrain "idi vaḳtinde". This rhythm lines up the beloved's former bright days like a tally and closes it each time with the same verdict.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, pp. 128-129, Ghazal 148 (Ü 61a). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Academic studies

  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Divânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2010 (entries on hat, eyebrow-bow and eye-narcissus). openaccess.firat.edu.tr
  • Sıtkı Nazik, "Benzer Redifli Şiirleri Bağlamında Mihrî Hatun ve Tâcî-zâde Cafer Çelebi'nin Karşılaştırılması", Uluslararası Amasya Âlimleri Sempozyumu Bildiriler Kitabı II, Amasya 2017, pp. 133-148 (table of refrains in Mihrî's divan: "idi vaktinde", G.148). https://isamveri.org/pdfdrg/G00226/2017/2017_NAZIKS.pdf

Online sources