Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ûlü Fâ‘ilâtü Mefâ‘îlü Fâ‘ilün

Böyle cihâna ḫûb yaratdı Ḫudâ seni
Ḫûb itdi ise dimedi ol pür-cefâ seni
Ḥüsnüñ bahârı bulmuş iken revnaḳ ey perî
İrgürmeye ḫazâna ṣaḳın bed-du‘â seni
Çoḳdur cihânda gerçi senüñ mübtelâlaruñ
Ben bende gibi sevmedi bir mübtelâ seni
Hey kime ḳaldı di bu güzellik saña ḳala
Cehd it hemân ki olmayasın bî-vefâ seni
Az it cefâyı ‘âşıḳa göster vefâ yüzin
Her ehl-i ‘aşḳ ḫayr du‘âdan aña seni
Ġırr'olma ḥüsne ḫûbluġuñ eyyâmı tîz geçer
‘Āşıḳlar âhın alma gerekse saña seni
Dime bugün ki ḥüsn ilinüñ pâdişâhıyam
Mihrî gibi felek ider irte gedâ seni

In English

1. God created you so fair for this world; but though he made you fair, he did not say to you, "Be full of cruelty." (The couplet can be read in two ways: "ol" can be taken as the imperative "be", or as a demonstrative, "that cruel one"; on the second reading the line gives a more obscure sense, something like "that cruel beauty, though God made you fair, he did not say this".)

2. O fairy, while the spring of your beauty has reached its brilliance, beware lest a curse bring you to autumn, that is, make your beauty fade.

3. Though there are many in the world who are smitten with you, no devotee has loved you as I, this servant of yours, love you.

4. Come, tell me, to whom has this beauty remained, that it should remain to you? At least strive not to be faithless.

5. Lessen your cruelty to the lover and show him the face of faithfulness; then every lover will remember you with a prayer for good. (The line is obscure. This sense emerges when "aña" is taken from the verb "anmak" (to remember) as "ansın"; if it is taken as the pronoun "ona" (to him), the sentence is left without its verb.)

6. Do not be proud of your beauty; the days of beauty pass quickly. If you pity yourself, that is, if you are dear to yourself, do not take on the lovers' sighs. ("Âh almak" means to draw down someone's curse upon oneself. This couplet is absent from the Ü manuscript.)

7. Do not say today, "I am the sovereign of the land of beauty"; fate will make you a beggar tomorrow, as it has made Mihrî one.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The one hundred and eighty-fourth ghazal (gazel) of the Divan has seven couplets (beyit) and is composed in the muzari metre of aruz (quantitative metre), in the pattern "Mef‘ûlü Fâ‘ilâtü Mefâ‘îlü Fâ‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "seni"; the rhyme (kafiye) is built on words ending in the sound "-â": Ḫudâ, pür-cefâ, bed-du‘â, mübtelâ, bî-vefâ, aña, saña, gedâ. The ghazal is found in the F, S and Ü manuscripts; the sixth couplet is absent from the Ü manuscript, and in F the word order of the second line of the fourth couplet differs. There is no record of whom the ghazal was written for or on what occasion.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In this ghazal the lover speaks not as one who pleads or complains but as one who gives advice to the beloved. That the redif is "seni" makes every line end as if addressed directly to the beloved, and gives the ghazal an air of counsel. The central idea is the transience of beauty: beauty has remained with no one, its days pass quickly, and today's sovereign can be tomorrow's beggar. Starting from this truth, the poet asks the beloved to lessen her cruelty, to show faithfulness, and not to draw down the lovers' sighs.

The ghazal's reciprocal use of prayer and curse is noteworthy. In the second couplet the beloved is warned lest a curse bring her beauty to autumn; in the fifth it is said that if she shows faithfulness the lovers will remember her with a prayer for good; in the sixth the lovers' sigh, that is, their curse, is called to mind. This congruence of images (tenasüp) among the words "bed-du‘â", "ḫayr du‘â" and "âh" forms the basis of the counsel: the beloved's beauty is open to the lovers' prayers and curses.

The second couplet has recourse to the image of the seasons. The spring of beauty has reached its brilliance, and autumn is the fading of beauty. This antithesis between spring and autumn is one of the best-known ways in Divan poetry of expressing the transience of beauty. The address "perî" (fairy) emphasizes the beloved's superhuman beauty. In the third couplet the lover sets herself apart from the other devotees. The phrase "Ben bende gibi" places the words "ben" (I) and "bende" (servant) side by side, forming a humble expression in which the lover introduces herself as the beloved's servant; but this humility is joined with the claim that no one loves as she does.

The line "Hey kime ḳaldı di bu güzellik saña ḳala" in the fourth couplet is a lively question close to spoken speech. That the words "ḳaldı" and "ḳala" come from the same root carries the answer to the question within itself: beauty has remained with no one, and it will not remain with you. The sixth couplet continues the same thought with the warning "ġırrolma" (do not be deceived, do not be proud).

The closing couplet (makta) is built on the contrast of sovereign and beggar. "Ḥüsn ilinüñ pâdişâhı" (the sovereign of the land of beauty) is a settled expression in Divan poetry for the beloved; "gedâ" (beggar) is generally used for the lover herself. Mihrî reverses these two patterns and says that fate will one day turn the beloved into a beggar too. Gülşen Kaya gives this couplet as an example of the idea that beauty is transient and that fate turns the sovereign of the land of beauty into a beggar, just as it did to Mihrî. The comparison "Mihrî gibi" can thus be read in two ways: either Mihrî is today in the state of a beggar because of love and shows the beloved her own condition as a warning, or the poet implies that she herself once took pride in her beauty and that fate took it from her. The text allows both readings.

Bibliography

  • Mehmet Arslan (hzl.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, p. 147, Gazel 184 (F 71b, S 73a, Ü 69b). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Divânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2010, p. 198. openaccess.firat.edu.tr