Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Muṣḥafında ḥüsnüñüñ cânâ ḫaṭuñ i‘râbdur
Ṣûretüñ ‘uşşâḳa câmi‘ ḳaşlaruñ miḥrâbdur
Āsitânuña nice yüz sürmesün leyl ü nehâr
Ehl-i ‘aşḳuñ secde-gâhı ḳıblesi ol bâbdur
Dil şeb-i zülfüñde güm-râh olmasa olmaz ‘aceb
Ey şeh-i ḫûbân-ı ‘âlem ṣûretüñ meh-tâbdur
Yalıñuz bir ben miyem sen dil-rübâya mübtelâ
Cân u dilden bu cihân ḫalḳı saña aḥbâbdur
Gözleri yaşın revânlar eyleyüp nâlân ider
Mihrî ḥüsnüñ gülsitânında bugün dûlâbdur

In English

1. O beloved, in the Qur'an codex of your beauty, the down on your face is the vowel marks; your face is a mosque for lovers, and your brows are the prayer niche. (I‘râb refers to the vowel marks that show how words are read in Arabic script; the word hat means both "writing" and the fine down on the face. The brows, with their arched shape, are likened to the mihrab.)

2. How could they not rub their faces on your threshold night and day? That door is the place of prostration and the qibla of the people of love.

3. O king of the world's beauties, it is no wonder if the heart loses its way in the night of your hair; for your face is the moonlight that lights the way in the dark.

4. Am I the only one in love with you, the stealer of hearts? All the people of this world are your friends, in soul and heart.

5. Mihrî, who sheds the tears of her eyes and laments, is today a waterwheel in the rose garden of your beauty. (Dûlâb is the creaking wheel that draws water to irrigate gardens; the lover is likened to it because she both sheds tears and groans.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal stands fiftieth in the Harfü'r-Râ section of the divan and has five couplets. It is written in the metre "Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is the ending "-dur" ("is"); the rhyme rests on the sound "-âb": i‘râb, miḥrâb, bâb, meh-tâb, aḥbâb, dûlâb. The ghazal is found in all four manuscripts; manuscript Ü writes the last word as "dollâbdur". It is not known for whom it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first two couplets of the ghazal describe the beloved's beauty through images of worship and scripture. The face is likened to the Qur'an codex, the down to the vowel marks, the face to a mosque, the brows to the prayer niche, and the beloved's threshold to the place of prostration and the qibla. Among the words codex, i‘râb, mosque, mihrab, place of prostration, qibla and "night and day" there is a strong congruence of images (tenasüp). Kaya describes the opening couplet as "the couplet that best sums up" these conceptions in the divan, and notes that the qibla of the people of love is the beloved's threshold and that her brows are, in form, a mihrab. In the second couplet, according to Kaya, rubbing one's face on the threshold night and day alludes to prayer.

The word "hat" in the first couplet is open to double entendre (tevriye): its near meaning is writing, and its far, intended meaning is the fine down newly appearing on the beloved's face. Once the codex comparison is made, the down on the face becomes the vowel marks that ensure the text is read correctly. Mihrî refines the comparison between face and codex with the word i‘râb, that is, a grammatical term.

In the third couplet a comparison is made between hair and night and between face and moonlight. Kaya notes that what keeps the heart from being lost in the night of the lock is the beloved's face, which is moonlight. The words "şeb" (night) and "meh-tâb" (moonlight) in the couplet form an antithesis. In the fourth couplet the lover says that she is not the only one in love with the beloved, that the whole world loves her; this repeats the "am I the only one" phrasing seen in the previous ghazal as well.

The pen-name couplet rests on a comparison drawn from daily life. According to Kaya, the waterwheel that draws water from streams for orchards and gardens is used here in place of the lover; the lover is likened to the wheel that keeps turning with the tears she sheds and at the same time groans. The wheel's water irrigates the garden; the lover's tears flow into the beloved's garden of beauty. The words tear, groan, turning and rose garden complete one another. The ghazal thus passes from the mosque and mihrab images of the first couplet to the garden wheel of the last; after sacred images, the lover's state is expressed through a garden implement.

Bibliography

Online sources