Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün

Şöyle teşḫîṣ eyledüm cânânı bayrâm irtesi
Ġâlib ider derdüme dermânı bayrâm irtesi
La‘l-i nâbından şeker senbûsesine dilberüñ
Urmaz isem ben ‘aceb dendânı bayrâm irtesi
‘Ārif oldur nâzenînler der-peyince seyr idüp
Her kenâra eyleye seyrânı bayrâm irtesi
Ḫûblaruñ zülfi ṣalıncaġında cânlar ṣalınur
Zeyn olıcaḳ ḥüsninüñ meydânı bayrâm irtesi
Ummasun kim ṣalına ol yâr ile eydüñ raḳîb
Ṣalınur ḥâżırdur uş urġânı bayrâm irtesi
Gerçi ‘îd-i vaṣlına ḳurbân idi Mihrî anuñ
Lîk teslîm itdi yâre cânı bayrâm irtesi
Çoḳ mübârek demlere irmişdük ammâ râstî
Olmaya ol dem gibi âh ḳanı bayrâm irtesi

In English

1. On the day after the festival I diagnosed the beloved thus: most likely it is she who is the remedy for my troubles. ("Teşhîs" (diagnosis) is a medical term; the lover speaks like a physician who has found the cure for his own illness.)

2. If, on the day after the festival, I do not sink my teeth into the sugared senbûse of the beloved's lips, bright as a ruby, that would be strange. (Senbûse is a filled pastry made at festivals; the lip is likened to this sweet. The word "bûse" inside the name means a kiss, so the couplet also hints at the wish for a kiss.)

3. The person of the heart, the true knower ('ârif), is the one who, on the day after the festival, goes after the delicate beauties to watch them and strolls to every shore.

4. When the field of beauty is adorned on the day after the festival, souls swing on the swing made of the beauties' tresses.

5. Let the rival not hope to swing with that beloved on the festival swing; he too will swing, for here the rope is ready on the day after the festival. ("Salınmak" means both to swing on a swing and to hang from the gallows; "urgan" means both the swing's rope and the rope of execution. The word "eydüñ" in the first line has been read as "of the festival" according to the context.)

6. Although Mihrî was to be sacrificed to the festival of union with her, she surrendered her life to the beloved on the day after the festival.

7. Truly, we have reached many blessed moments; but, ah, there is nothing like that moment on the day after the festival; where is that moment now?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The one hundred and ninety-fifth ghazal (gazel) has seven couplets (beyit) and is composed in the remel metre with the pattern "Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün". Its redif (refrain word) is "bayrâm irtesi" (the day after the festival), and its rhyme is the sound "-ânı": cânânı, dermânı, dendânı, seyrânı, meydânı, urġânı, cânı, ḳanı. In Arslan's edition the ghazal rests on manuscript Ü alone. In Havlioğlu's electronic text it appears as number 200, and the redif is read there as "bayrām ertesi". That the ghazal was written for a festival is clear from its redif; but there is no record of to whom it was presented or the festival of which year it concerns. Mehmet Arslan notes that most of Mihrî's kasides (qasidas) were presented to Prince Ahmed as congratulations on the Ramadan and sacrifice festivals; in this ghazal, however, no patron is mentioned and the poem is built from beginning to end on the beloved and the festival revelry.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Gülşen Kaya notes that in the divan the festival is described as joy, exhilaration and liveliness, and she singles out this ghazal: in her view, in the ghazal with the redif "bayram irtesi" the festival is treated with socially rich content, describing how the pastry called senbûse is made at festivals, how beauties dress up and go out strolling, and how swings are set up and open fields decorated. Mustafa İsmet Uzun likewise writes that in poems on the festival, visits, outing places, the swings at festival grounds and the delight of children enter the verse, and that the festival theme was not confined to festival kasides but spread into the couplets of divan poetry. Mihrî's ghazal is an example in which this common material is used inside a ghazal and tied to a story of a beloved.

The first couplet draws on the language of medicine: the words "teşḫîṣ" (diagnosis), "derd" (ailment) and "dermân" (remedy) form a congruence of images (tenasüp). The lover sees the beloved on the day after the festival and decides that she is the cure for her trouble. In the second couplet the beloved's lip is likened to the festival sweet senbûse. Kaya notes that festival and feast sweets such as lokma, pelte and senbûse stand in the divan for the beloved's lips and words, and she gives this couplet as an example. In Havlioğlu's text the same place is written as two words, "şeker sen būsesine"; this reading brings out the sense of "bûse" (kiss) inside the word. Even if one takes the edition's reading "senbûse", the association is not lost, and the subtlety of the couplet comes from it.

In the third couplet the word "‘ârif" means both a learned, understanding person and, in Sufism, one who knows God. By saying that the true 'ârif is the person who goes out strolling after the beauties on the day after the festival, the poet gives this word a playful sense. The fourth and fifth couplets bring the festival swings into the poem. In the fourth the beauties' tresses become the swing and souls swing on it. In the fifth the words "ṣalınmak" and "urġan" are used with double meanings (tevriye): let the rival not hope to swing with the beloved, a rope is ready for him too. When the second meaning of the words comes forward, this rope recalls the rope of the gallows rather than the rope of the swing. This hard joke placed in the middle of festival gaiety is the liveliest couplet of the ghazal.

The sixth couplet suggests that the festival is the festival of sacrifice. The words "‘îd-i vaṣl" (festival of union) and "ḳurbân" (sacrifice) point to that festival. Kaya notes that the expression of being sacrificed occurs mostly in poems written for the sacrifice festival, which appears as "‘îd-i aḍḥâ", and she gives this couplet as an example. The poet says that she surrendered to the beloved only on the day after the festival the life that ought to have been sacrificed at the festival of union. The last couplet closes with a memory, saying that many blessed days have been reached but that there is none like that moment on the day after the festival.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, p. 153, Ghazal 195 (Ü 73a); introduction p. 6. ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Academic studies

  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Divânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2010, pp. 43, 107-108, 178, 195, 288. openaccess.firat.edu.tr

Books

Other sources

  • Didem Havlioğlu (ed.), "Ğazeliyyāt-ı Mihri-i Hāqīre", türkoloji-iran, 2007 (a different transliteration of the ghazal, ghazal no. 200).

Online sources