Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Gelmişem yüz süriyü ṭoġrı ḳılup râh saña
Dilerem ‘arż ḳılam ḥâlümi ey şâh saña
Nice ‘adl ıssı şehen-şâh-ı cihânsın ki gelür
Āsitânuña güneş ḫıdmete her gâh saña
Cân u dilden oḳur ey ruḫları gül medḥ ü s̱enâ
Rûz u şeb bülbül-i cân ṣubḥ u seḥer-gâh saña
Yaḳdı yandurdı şehâ teşne dili ġayret odı
Ẓulmet-i ġamda ḳoma Ḫıżr ola hem-râh saña
Nev-cüvân ide Zelîḫâ gibi ey Mihrî seni
Ḳıla ger luṭf ile Yûsuf naẓarın şâh saña

In English

1. O king, I have come to you straight, rubbing my face on the ground. I want to lay my condition before you and tell you my pain.

2. You are such a just emperor of the world that even the sun comes at every moment to your threshold to serve.

3. O rose-cheeked one, the nightingale of the soul praises you night and day, at morning and at dawn, with all its heart and soul, and recites eulogies to you.

4. O king, the fire of jealousy has scorched and burned my thirsty heart. Do not leave me in the darkness of grief; may Khidr be your travelling companion. (Khidr is known as the one who found the water of immortality in the land of darkness and who comes to the aid of those in distress. The words thirsty heart, darkness and Khidr are tied to the idea of the water of immortality.)

5. O Mihrî, if the king shows favour and looks at you with the glance of Joseph, he will make you young again like Zulaykha. (According to the story, Zulaykha, who had grown old and blind, became young again through the prayer of Joseph.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The fifth ghazal of the divan has five couplets and is written in the pattern "Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilâtün Fe'ilün" of the remel metre. The redif (refrain word) is "saña" (to you), and the rhyme is the sound "-âh": râh, şâh, gâh, seḥer-gâh, hem-râh. The word "şâh" is used as a rhyme both in the first couplet and in the last; although the repetition of the same rhyme word is not well regarded in divan poetry, here it serves to name the addressee of the poem with the same word at the beginning and at the end. The ghazal is in all four manuscripts; between the manuscripts there is a difference of only a few words.

This ghazal shares the same metre, the same rhyme and the same redif with the sixth ghazal that follows it directly in the divan. The pen-name couplets of the two poems are also almost identical. In the fifth ghazal it is said "Nev-cüvân ide Zelîḫâ gibi ey Mihrî seni / Ḳıla ger luṭf ile Yûsuf naẓarın şâh saña", while in the sixth ghazal it is "Nev-cüvân itdi Zelîḫâ gibi Mihrî seni 'aşḳ / Ḳılalı luṭf ile Yûsuf-naẓarın şâh saña". In the first, rejuvenation is voiced as a wish and a condition ("if he looks, he will make you young"), in the second it is told as an event that has already taken place ("since he looked, love has made you young"). The reason for this closeness is not explained in the sources; it is possible that the poet wrote two poems on the same ground, or that one is a reworked form of the other.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Throughout the poem the relationship of lover and beloved is set up as that of a servant and a sovereign. The lover comes rubbing her face on the ground and wishes to lay her condition before him; the beloved is a just emperor of the world, and even the sun comes to his threshold to serve. This hyperbole in the second couplet comes from the language of praise used for rulers in divan poetry. In the third couplet the same person is called "ruḫları gül" (rose-cheeked) and the nightingale of the soul praises him night and day. The familiar relationship between rose and nightingale corresponds to the relationship between beloved and lover; the words rose, nightingale, morning and dawn form a tenasüp (congruence of images).

The fourth couplet is built on images of thirst and darkness. The fire of jealousy has burned the heart and left it thirsty; the lover is in the darkness of grief. The remedy for these two conditions is Khidr. As Kaya notes, Khidr is remembered in the divan for finding the water of life in the land of darkness, for immortality and for helping those in distress; in prayers especially he is asked to be a travelling companion. The phrase "Ḫıżr ola hem-râh saña" in the couplet is also such a prayer. The couplet contains an allusion (telmih) to the story of Khidr.

In the last couplet the story of Joseph and Zulaykha is invoked. According to the account given in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Zulaykha grew old and blind in the years she was apart from Joseph, became young again and regained her sight through Joseph's prayer, and married him. Kaya notes that Mihrî treats this love story on a human plane, likening the beloved to Joseph and herself to Zulaykha, made young again through his prayer, and she gives this couplet as an example. In Kaya's words, in nearly all the couplets of the divan in which the name Zulaykha appears, her rejuvenation or ageing is mentioned. This comparison is also noteworthy from the point of view of the woman poet's voice; Mihrî, as lover, puts herself in the place of Zulaykha, the female protagonist of the story, and imagines the beloved's glance as a favour that makes the aged young again.

Historical Context

For whom the ghazal was written is not known with certainty. Mehmet Arslan says in the introduction to the divan that Mihrî presented her poems especially to Şehzade Ahmed, that ten of the kasides were written to this prince and that, "as far as can be understood from their content", three ghazals were also presented to him, but he does not say which ghazals these are. The addresses "ey şâh", "'adl ıssı şehen-şâh-ı cihân" (the just emperor of the world) and "şehâ" in this ghazal suggest that it may have been presented to a ruler or a prince. On the other hand, since in divan poetry it is very common for the beloved to be called shah and sultan, these addresses cannot by themselves prove the existence of a patron.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

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