Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilün

Yaḳdı hecr âteşine cânumı cânân ehli
Olmasun bencileyin hîç müselmân ehli
Küfr-i zülfine esîr oldum o kâfir-beçenüñ
Beni ḳurtarmaġa yoḳ mı ki bir îmân ehli
Bâġ-ı ḥüsnüñ ṣularam göz yaşıla şâm u seḥer
Daḫi şeftâlu yimesün mi bu bustân ehli
Muṣḥaf-ı ḥüsnüñi ezber oḳuram şey’-lillâh
Ḳapuña geldi vir iḥsânuñı Ḳur’ân ehli
Beni aġlar görüp ey dost niye gülmeyesin
Ne bilür aġlayanuñ ḥâlini ḫandân ehli
Devr-i ḥüsnüñ geçer ey yâr ḳalur bir eyü ad
Unudılmaz añılur ḫayr ile iḥsân ehli
Ḫûblaruñ derdine düşdüñse yapış dâmenine
Mihrî bu derde bulur derdine dermân ehli

In English

1. The company of beauties burned my soul in the fire of separation; may no Muslim be as I am.

2. I am a captive to the unbelief of the tress of that infidel child (the beauty who takes hearts and shows no mercy), that is, to her pitch-black tress; is there no believer who will free me?

3. I water the garden of beauty with my tears, morning and evening; should the labourer of this orchard not eat a peach as well? (In divan poetry the peach alludes to a kiss.)

4. For God's sake I recite from memory the mushaf of your beauty (your face, read like the Qur'an); a hafiz has come to your door, give him your bounty.

5. My friend, why should you not laugh when you see me weeping; those who laugh and make merry, what do they know of the state of one who weeps?

6. O beloved, the age of your beauty will pass and a good name will remain; those who do good and give generously are not forgotten, they are remembered with blessing.

7. If you have fallen into the grief of the beauties, hold fast to her hem. The couplet can be read in two ways: "Mihrî, the one who finds a remedy for grief finds the remedy in this grief", or "Mihrî, the one who knows the remedy (the beloved) finds a remedy for this grief".

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The 210th and last ghazal of the divan has seven couplets and is written in the remel metre, in the pattern "Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilün". Its redif (refrain word) is "ehli" (people of, those who belong to); the rhyme is built on the sound "-ân": cânân, müselmân, îmân, bustân, Ḳur’ân, ḫandân, iḥsân, dermân. In each couplet the redif joins a different community: the beloveds, the Muslims, the people of faith, the people of the orchard, those who recite the Qur'an, those who laugh, the people of goodness and those who know the remedy. The ghazal is found in the F, S and Ü manuscripts. The variants are few: the S manuscript reads "şâm" in place of "şâm u" in the third couplet, and the F manuscript "oḳudum" in place of "oḳurum" in the fourth. In the edition the lines of the last couplet are printed separately with the numbers 7 and 8, followed by an empty number 9; here it is given as a single couplet, and the total of 1287 couplets given in the introduction of the edition for the ghazals section works out only in this way. Nothing is known of whom the poem was written for or on what occasion.

In Sıtkı Nazik's table showing the refrains in Mihrî's divan, this ghazal appears as the only example in the divan of the redif "ehli".

Meaning and Figures of Speech

For the most part the ghazal tells of love in the language of religion and worship. In the first couplet the "cânân ehli", that is, the company of beauties, has burned the lover's soul in the fire of separation; in the second line the poet wishes that no Muslim may fall into her state. The choice of the word "müselmân", combined with the way burning in fire recalls the torment of hell, gives the couplet a faintly joking tone.

In the second couplet this language becomes more pronounced. The beloved is a "kâfir-beçe" (an infidel child) and her tress is called "küfr". In divan poetry the tress is likened to unbelief because of its blackness and darkness; the lover has become a captive of this darkness and looks for a "îmân ehli" (a believer) who will free her. Gülşen Kaya notes that the word beçe occurs in the divan only in this couplet, where it recalls the tress as "kâfir beçe". The contrasts between unbelief and faith, and between captive and rescuer, give the couplet antithesis (tezat).

The third couplet likens love to the labour of a garden. The lover waters the garden of beauty with her tears morning and evening, and argues that whoever waters a garden has the right to taste its fruit, the peach. In divan poetry the peach is a euphemism for the kiss; the couplet, built like the speech of a gardener who asks for the reward of his labour, thus turns into a request for a kiss. There is congruence of images (tenasüp) among the words bâġ, bustân, şeftâlu and ṣulamak.

The fourth couplet rests on a custom in Mihrî's surroundings. The beloved's beauty is likened to a mushaf (a copy of the Qur'an) and the lover to a hafiz who recites it from memory; the hafiz has come to the beloved's door and expects a gift in return. Kaya, in discussing the customs and beliefs found in the divan, states that people who recited the Qur'an from memory went from door to door and prayed in return for a gift, and that in this couplet too the lover, a person of the Qur'an, recites the mushaf of beauty by heart before the beloved. The phrase "Şey’-lillâh" (for God's sake) also suggests a relationship of this kind of begging and giving. There is congruence of images among muṣḥaf, ezber, oḳumak and Ḳur’ân, and a simile (teşbih) in likening the beloved's face to the sacred book.

In the fifth couplet the language becomes plain and takes on the air of a proverb: the one who laughs does not know the state of the one who weeps. This manner of speaking can be read as an example of irsâl-i mesel (the use of a proverb), calling to mind folk sayings of the kind "the full does not know the hungry"; the contrast between "aġlamak" and "gülmek", and between "aġlayan" and "ḫandân", gives the couplet antithesis too. The sixth couplet offers the beloved a piece of advice: beauty is transient, what lasts is a good name, and those who do good are remembered with blessing. Kaya cites this couplet as an example of the importance of being remembered with a blessing and of leaving a good name behind. The advice in the couplet can also be understood as a skilful indirect request, calling the beloved to kindness toward the lover by reminding her that the age of her beauty will pass.

The closing couplet ends the ghazal, whose structure is built on the word "ehl", with those who find a remedy for grief. The person who has fallen into the grief of the beauties is advised to cling to the beloved's hem; to cling to the hem means in the older language to take refuge in someone and ask help of him. The syntax of the second line is not certain; it can be understood either that the one who knows the remedy finds the remedy only in this grief, or that the beloved is the remedy for this grief. In both readings the couplet is carried by the contrast between grief and remedy and by the repetition of the word "derd".

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, pp. 160-162, Ghazal 210 (F 71a, S 72b, Ü 76b). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Academic studies

Online sources