Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Bu ḫaste göñül derdine dermân yetişdi
Vîrâne göñül taḫtına sultân yetişdi
Zeyn itmege cân gülşenin el-minnetü lillâh
Ol ruḫları gül ṣaçları reyḥân yetişdi
Dil bülbüli feryâd u fiġân itse demidür
Bir ġonca-dehen serv-i ḫırâmân yetişdi
Getürdi ṣabâ peyki cilâ ḫâk-i rehüñden
Tâ gözlerüme kuḥl-ı Ṣıfâhân yetişdi
Cân raḫtını yaġmaladı ol demde ḫayâlüñ
Dil ḫânesine geldi çü mihmân yetişdi
Şükrâne vir ey Mihrî revân yolına cânı
Şâd ol ki bugün devlet ile ḫân yetişdi

In English

1. A remedy has arrived for the grief of this sick heart; a sultan has arrived for the throne of the ruined heart.

2. Thanks be to God, she has come to adorn the rose garden of the soul, she whose cheeks are roses and whose tresses are sweet basil.

3. It is fitting, it is the very hour, for the nightingale of the heart to cry out and lament; for one with a rosebud mouth, a swaying cypress of a figure, has arrived.

4. The messenger zephyr (saba) brought dust from the earth of your path that gives a shine to the eye; so that to my eyes the kohl of Isfahan has come. (Isfahan kohl was counted the most precious; the earth on which the beloved steps becomes kohl for the lover's eye.)

5. At that moment your image plundered the goods of my soul; it came to the house of the heart like a guest, and arrived.

6. O Mihrî, as a thanksgiving give your soul at once to her path; rejoice, for today the khan has come together with good fortune. ("Revân" means both "at once, flowing" and "soul, spirit". In the M manuscript the last word is "cân" in place of "ḫân": "today the soul has arrived together with good fortune".)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The one hundred and eighty-third ghazal (gazel) of the Divan has six couplets (beyit) and is composed in the hezec metre of aruz (quantitative metre), in the pattern "Mef‘ûlü Mefâ‘îlü Mefâ‘îlü Fa‘ûlün". The redif (refrain word) is the verb "yetişdi"; the rhyme (kafiye) is built on the sound "-ân": dermân, sulṭân, reyḥân, ḫırâmân, Ṣıfâhân, mihmân, ḫân. The ghazal is found in the F, S and Ü manuscripts, with a few differences of wording among them. For example, in F and S the first line has "dilüñ" in place of "göñül", and in F the third couplet reads "yeridür" in place of "demidür". There is no record of whom the ghazal was written for or on what occasion.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is an announcement of union. Mihrî's Divan is dominated by ghazals of separation and reproach; here a joyful moment is described in which the beloved's arrival brings the sick heart a remedy and seats the sultan on the throne of the ruined heart. The verb "yetişdi" in the redif gives this joy a sense of arrival in haste. Remedy, sultan, beauty, messenger, guest and khan each arrive in a different guise in each couplet.

In the first couplet two separate comparisons stand side by side. The heart is both a patient, and the beloved its remedy; and a ruined land, and the beloved the sultan who ascends its throne. The contrast between "vîrâne" (ruin) and "taḫt" (throne) suggests that the beloved's arrival turns the ruin into a seat of sovereignty. The second couplet moves to the image of the rose garden. Gülşen Kaya shows, with this couplet as her example, that what adorns the lover's garden of the soul is the beloved's rose cheeks and basil tresses. With the soul a garden, and the beloved's face a rose and her hair basil, the heart's turning into a nightingale in the third couplet comes of itself. Rose, nightingale, rosebud and cypress form a congruence of images (tenasüp) as parts of the same garden. "Ġonca-dehen" (rosebud-mouthed) and "serv-i ḫırâmân" (swaying cypress) are customary similes (teşbih) for the beloved's small mouth and her tall, swaying figure.

The fourth couplet rests on a frequently used topos of Divan poetry. Kaya notes that in the Divan the messenger who appears is the east wind (saba), that the east wind brings the lover news from the beloved, and that the "peyk-i sabâ" carries the dust of the beloved's footsteps to the lover. For the lover this dust is the kohl of Isfahan, which gives the eye power to see. Elsewhere Kaya explains that the earth under the beloved's feet is likened to kohl because kohl too is a powder and gives brightness to the eye, and that it is mentioned together with Isfahan, from which the best kohl was obtained. The word "cilâ" (polish, brightness) in the couplet is also tied to this brightness of the eye.

The fifth couplet adds a sweet unease to the joy of union. The beloved's image has come as a guest to the house of the heart, but as soon as it came it plundered the goods of the soul. That guest and plunderer are united in one person shows that the beloved is at once the one awaited and the one who destroys the lover. In the closing couplet (makta) the poet addresses herself and tells herself to give her soul to the beloved's path as a thanksgiving. The word "revân" has two meanings here: "revân vir" means give at once, but "revân" also means soul or spirit, and so forms a congruence of images with the word "cân" in the line.

The words "devlet ile ḫân yetişdi" in the last line, together with the word "sulṭân" in the first couplet, tie the beginning and end of the ghazal together. To call the beloved a sultan and a khan is the customary language of Divan poetry. There is no record showing whether these words point to the arrival of a real ruler or prince. That the last word appears as "cân" in the M manuscript also shows that the couplet can be read in two ways: either the khan has come with good fortune, or the soul the lover lost has returned with good fortune.

Bibliography

  • Mehmet Arslan (hzl.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, pp. 146-147, Gazel 183 (F 69b, S 71b, Ü 69a). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Divânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2010, pp. 80, 87, 149, 188. openaccess.firat.edu.tr