Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ol kân-ı vefâ ḫoş bize gösterdi keremler
Baṣdı kereminden yüzüm üstine ḳademler
‘Īsî-nefesi eyledi biz mürdeyi zinde
Ġam-gîn dilimüz buldı feraḥ gitdi elemler
Luṭfı ile ḳıldı dil-i vîrânumı ma‘mûr
Göñlin ḫoş ide her dem anuñ ḫûb ṣanemler
İtdi bizi ol ẕât-ı şerîf ile müşerref
Görmeyiserüz ḥaşre degin ġuṣṣa vü ġamlar
Mihrî nicesi şerḥ idesin vaṣfı beyânın
Taḳrîr idemez dil ne ḫo taḥrîr ḳalemler

In English

1. That mine of fidelity showed us such lovely kindnesses; out of his generosity he set his foot upon my face. (That is, he showed humility, visited us and honoured us.)

2. His breath, which gives life like Jesus', revived us who were dead; our grieving heart was eased and the sorrows went away.

3. With his kindness he made my ruined heart flourish. May the beautiful ones, too, make his heart glad at every moment.

4. He honoured us with his noble presence; now, until the Day of Resurrection, we shall see no sorrow or grief. ("Görmeyiserüz" can also be understood as a wish: "may we see no sorrow or grief until the Day of Resurrection.")

5. O Mihrî, how can you explain and set out his praise? The tongue cannot utter it, and for pens to write it is not possible at all.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The twenty-fourth ghazal (gazel) of the divan has five couplets (beyit) and is written in the hezec meter of the aruz (quantitative metre), in the pattern "Mef‘ûlü Mefâ‘îlü Mefâ‘îlü Fa‘ûlün". Ghazals are mostly written with between five and fifteen couplets; this poem is at the lower limit. The redif (refrain word) is the plural suffix "-ler" and the rhyme is the sound "-em": keremler, ḳademler, elemler, ṣanemler, ḳalemler. The word "ġamlar" in the fourth couplet takes the suffix "-lar" by vowel harmony and does not fully meet the rhyme. The poem is found only in the Istanbul University manuscript (Ü 32b). It is not known for whom it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is a poem of thanks. The poet praises someone who did her a kindness and honoured her by coming to her house. The idiom "yüzüm üstine ḳadem basmak" in the first couplet is close to expressions of respect that mean holding someone's arrival "above one's head and eyes"; the guest is so valuable that even his setting foot on the host's face is counted a favour. With this figure the words "kân-ı vefâ" (mine of fidelity) and "kerem" (generosity) combine, and the visitor is drawn as a great man, perhaps a patron.

The second couplet rests on one of the most common allusions of divan poetry. It is believed that Jesus raised the dead with his breath; poets liken the beloved's or the patron's speech and breath to this miracle. Gülşen Kaya gives this couplet as an example of the beloved being likened to the prophet Jesus in Mihrî's divan: the beloved is a Jesus who revives the lover's dead heart with his breath. The contrast between "mürde" (dead) and "zinde" (alive), and between "ġam-gîn" (grieving) and "feraḥ" (relief), also builds the art of antithesis within the couplet.

In the third couplet the heart is imagined as a ruined building (vîrân), and kindness as a repair that makes it flourish (ma‘mûr) again. The rebuilding of a ruined heart is an often-used image in divan poetry. In the second line of the same couplet the poet wishes that the person who has gladdened her be gladdened too by beauties ("ḫûb ṣanemler"); this is to repay thanks with a prayer. The last couplet turns to a familiar closing device of divan poetry: the quality of the person praised is so high that the tongue cannot describe it nor the pen write it. Between "taḳrîr" (telling in speech) and "taḥrîr" (telling in writing) there is a closeness in both sound and sense; the poet uses this pair in a manner near to wordplay (cinas).

Among the ghazals Mihrî wrote to Prince Ahmed, Gülşen Kaya counts ghazal 196, in which help is sought in terms of "the building of the ruin of the heart", though the prince is not named. The twenty-fourth ghazal also speaks of a great man who makes a ruined heart flourish; but apart from this resemblance there is no record tying the poem to a particular person.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, p. 63, Gazel 24 (Ü 32b). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Academic studies

  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Divânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2010, pp. 60-61, 132. openaccess.firat.edu.tr
  • Sabiha Gemici, Mihrî Hatun Divanı: Karşılaştırmalı Metin, Cümle Yapısı ve Cümle Türleri, doctoral thesis, Uludağ Üniversitesi, Balıkesir 1990, p. 465 (ghazal 24 in Gemici).

Online sources