Özgün Metin

Vezin: Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilün

Çünki zeyn oldı cihân bâġı gülistânlarla
Gel i dil seyr idelüm biz daḫi cânânlarla
Götürüp perde-i ‘uşşâḳı ser-âġâz idelüm
Bülbüli mât idelim nâle vü efġânlarla
İçelüm la‘li şarâbından o gül-çihrelerüñ
Müdde‘înüñ yüregin ṭolduralum ḳanlarla
Yaşum ırmaġı kenârın ṭolanup her demde
Ṣalınup seyr idelüm serv-i ḫırâmânlarla
Yaḳalum cân u göñül mûmıla ten micmerini
Ṣubḥa dek ‘ayş idelüm şem‘-i şebistânlarla
Oldı ṣaḥn-ı çemenüñ gûşeleri bâġ-ı behişt
Bezm-i ḫâṣ eyleyelüm gel berü ġılmânlarla
‘Ömr bir anda geçer devr-i gül eyyâmı daḫi
Bâḳî ḳalmaz bu zamân bâri geçür ânlarla
Mihrî hem-dem olagör ‘ömr-i ṭavîl ister iseñ
Zülfi sünbül gözi nergis ḫaṭı reyḥânlarla

In English

1. Now that the garden of the world is adorned with rose gardens, come, my heart, let us too go out and look on our beloveds.

2. Let us lift the veil of the lovers and begin the opening section; let us checkmate the nightingale with our laments and cries. ("Perde" means both a mode in music and a veil; "ser-âġâz" is the opening part of a musical suite. "Uşşâk" is both the name of a makam and the word for "lovers." To "checkmate" the nightingale, an expression taken from chess, means to defeat it.)

3. Let us drink from the wine of the lips of those rose-faced ones, and fill the rival's heart with blood. (The red lip is likened to wine. While the lover drinks from the beloved's lip, the rival will weep blood out of jealousy.)

4. Let us stroll, at every moment, along the bank of the river of my tears, with the cypress-statured beloveds who sway as they walk. ("Serv-i ḫırâmân" means a cypress that walks swaying; tall, graceful beloveds are meant.)

5. Let us burn the censer of the body with the candle of soul and heart, and make merry until dawn with the candles of the night gathering. (A censer is a vessel in which fragrant incense is burned. The lover is ready to burn his own body like incense. "Şem‘-i şebistân," the candle of the night chamber, stands for the beauties who light up the gathering.)

6. The corners of the meadow have become the garden of paradise; come here, let us hold a select gathering with the ghilmân. (The ghilmân are the youthful servants of paradise mentioned in the Qur'an; here the young cupbearers of the gathering are meant.)

7. A lifetime passes in an instant, and so do the days of the season of roses; this time will not last, so at least spend it with them.

8. Mihrî, if you want a long life, keep company with those whose hair is the hyacinth, whose eye is the narcissus, and whose down on the cheek is basil. (The hyacinth is likened to curled, fragrant hair, the narcissus to a languid eye, and basil (reyhan) to the fine down on the cheek. Reyhan is also the name of a style of calligraphy.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal (gazel) has eight couplets (beyit) and is written in the ramal metre of aruz (quantitative metre), in the pattern "Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "-larla", formed from the postposition "ile" fused with the plural suffix; the rhyme is the sound "-ân" in the words "gülistân, cânân, efġân, ḳan, ḫırâmân, şebistân, ġılmân, ân, reyḥân". Among the four manuscripts the ghazal is found only in manuscript Ü, so no manuscript variants are given in the edition. There is no record of whom it was written for; the poem addresses not a particular person but the friends who will join the spring gathering.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem is an invitation to spring. The garden of the world is adorned with rose gardens and the corners of the meadow have turned into paradise; the heart is called to spend this season with beloveds, with music and with wine. Much of the ghazal is built from verbs in the optative mood, such as "idelüm, ṭolduralum, eyleyelüm". These verbs give the poem the air of a shared plan for entertainment and place the reader among the friends who join the gathering.

The second couplet is woven from musical terms. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among the words "perde, ‘uşşâḳ, ser-âġâz, nâle, efġân", and "perde" and "‘uşşâḳ" each form a double entendre (tevriye) through their two meanings. To "checkmate" the nightingale by competing with its lament turns the rose-and-nightingale conceit upside down: although the nightingale is the garden's singer, the lovers' cries will leave it behind. In the third couplet, as Gülşen Kaya observes, the lover wishes to drink from the beloved's wine-like lip and leave the rival in jealousy; the words "şarâb" and "ḳan" call each other up through colour.

The fourth and fifth couplets place the lover's own state within the spring scene. The tears become a river, and the beloveds become cypresses swaying on its bank. In the fifth couplet soul and heart become the candle and the body the censer; the lover is ready to burn himself to spread fragrance through the gathering. The words "mûm, micmer, ṣubḥ, şem‘, şebistân" bring together the furnishings of the night gathering.

The seventh couplet carries the ghazal's weight of thought. Kaya cites this couplet in two places: she notes that in the divan the ideas of annihilation and subsistence (fena and beka) are treated less in their mystical dimension than as the transience of the world, which is why the "devr-i gül," the season of roses, should be enjoyed; and she writes that the idea that time is as short as a rose season, that it is not lasting, and that the moment should be valued is also voiced in this couplet. The likeness between a lifetime and the season of roses is supported by the sound closeness of the words "an" and "ânlar".

The last couplet lists the beloved's beauty through the names of flowers. Kaya notes that the narcissus is likened to the eye because of its narcotic quality and its shape, and that reyhan, used for the down on the cheek, is also thought of as a double entendre (tevriye) with its meaning as a calligraphic style. The closing, which ties a long life to the company of beauties, reads as a playful answer to what the seventh couplet says about the brevity of life.

Bibliography

Online sources