Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Mef‘ûlü Fâ‘ilâtü Mefâ‘îlü Fâ‘ilün
‘Aşḳuñ yolında her ki ṣaḳındıysa ‘ârını
Tâ ḥaşr olınca isteye bulmaya yârını
‘Āşıḳ mı direm aña ki cânân yolında ol
Cân u dil ile virmeye tâ ‘ömri varını
Dil ‘andelîbi di nice feryâd ḳılmasun
Her ḫâr ile görür gözi sen gül-‘iẕârını
Luṭfın raḳîbe ḳılur u ‘uşşâḳa cevrini
Gör bu zamâne ḫûblarınuñ i‘tibârını
Devr-i ruḫında ṣatmaġa tiryâḳ-ı leblerin
Dilber eline almış iki zülfi mârını
Cânâ virürse şevḳ-i ruḫuñla cihânda cân
Pür-nûr ḳıla ḥaşre dek anun mezârını
Mihrî hevâ-yı ‘aşḳuñı elden ḳomaz eger
Meydân-ı ‘aşḳ içinde dikerlerse dârını
In English
1. Whoever on the road of love has guarded against shame and disgrace ('âr), let him seek his beloved until the Day of Judgement and not find her.
2. Would I call him a lover who, on the beloved's road, does not give with soul and heart everything he has for as long as he lives?
3. Tell the nightingale of the heart: how should it not cry out? It sees your rose-cheeked face together with every thorn (that is, every rival).
4. Look at what the beauties of this age value: they show their favours to the rival and their torments to the lovers.
5. In the age of her cheek, the beloved has taken her two locks, two snakes, into her hand in order to sell the antidote of her lips. (The comparison is with the market vendors who sell antidotes while handling snakes: the lock is the snake, the lip is the antidote.)
6. O beloved, if someone in this world gives up his life out of longing for your cheek, let (that longing) fill his grave with light until the Day of Judgement.
7. Even if they raise a gallows for her in the field of love, Mihrî will not let go of the passion for your love.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The one hundred and ninety-seventh ghazal (gazel) of the divan has seven couplets (beyit) and is composed in the muzâri metre with the pattern "Mef‘ûlü Fâ‘ilâtü Mefâ‘îlü Fâ‘ilün". The poem has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is built on the sounds "-ârını": ‘ârını, yârını, varını, ‘iẕârını, i‘tibârını, mârını, mezârını, dârını. Because the final "-ını" is made up of possessive and accusative suffixes, it sounds like a redif to the ear; the real rhyme is the syllable "âr". It is placed in the divan's "Ḥarfü'l-Yâ" section, that is, among the ghazals whose lines end in the letter ye. The poem is found in manuscripts F, S and Ü; in manuscript Ü the sixth and seventh couplets have changed places. In the fifth couplet manuscript F reads "zülf-i târını" (the strand of her lock) in place of "zülfi mârını" (her lock's snake); the edition takes the snake reading, and the antidote image of the couplet gains its meaning from that reading. There is no information on whom the ghazal was written for or on what occasion.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The ghazal opens by condemning those who, on the road of love, are concerned with 'âr, that is, with shame and disgrace. In divan poetry the true lover pays no heed to what people will say; concern for honour and standing is regarded as an obstacle in the way of love. Mihrî expresses this idea as a curse, wishing that whoever guards against 'âr may seek his beloved until the Day of Judgement and never find her. The second couplet completes the same idea from the positive side: one who does not give his soul and heart, everything he has for as long as he lives, on the beloved's road is not called a lover. The words "cân u dil" and "varını" show that the lover must sacrifice his entire being.
The third couplet uses the motif of the rose and the nightingale. The heart is likened to the nightingale and the beloved's cheek to the rose; the thorns beside the rose are the rivals around the beloved. The nightingale cries out because it sees the rose together with every thorn. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among the words rose, thorn and nightingale; the compound "gül-‘iẕâr" (rose-cheeked) is also formed through simile (teşbih). The fourth couplet complains of the beauties of the age: they reserve favours for the rival and torments for the lovers. The words "luṭf" (favour) and "cevr" (cruelty), "raḳîb" (rival) and "‘uşşâḳ" (lovers) form an antithesis in the couplet through their opposite senses.
The fifth couplet is the most striking of the ghazal. The beloved's lips are "tiryâk", the antidote against poison; her two locks are two snakes. The beloved is shown as a vendor who has taken snakes into her hand in order to sell her antidote. In her thesis examining the images of illness and cure in Mihrî's divan, Gülşen Kaya cites this couplet among the examples in which snake venom is mentioned as a curative, and notes that lip and hair are mentioned in the couplet as a pair of poison and antidote. This relationship among snake, lock and antidote is a well-known motif of divan poetry: the coiling black hair is likened to a snake, and the lip is the cure that heals the lover's ailment.
The sixth couplet carries the light of the beloved's cheek into the grave. The grave of a lover who gives up his life out of longing for the beloved's face stays bright until the Day of Judgement. The relation between cheek and light rests on the likening of the face to the sun and the moon in divan poetry. In the final couplet (makta) the poem returns to the thought of the first. Mihrî says that she will not give up the passion of love even if a gallows is raised for her. The use of "meydân" (field) and "dâr" (gallows) together calls to mind the type of lover in divan poetry who is ready to mount the gallows for the sake of love. At the beginning of the ghazal those who guard against 'âr are condemned, and at the end the poet presents herself as a lover who accepts any punishment; the poem is thus built on a consistent idea from start to finish.
Bibliography
- Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, p. 154, Ghazal 197 (F 68a, S 70a, Ü 73b). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
- Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Divânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2010, p. 99. openaccess.firat.edu.tr
