Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Her seḥer vaḳtinde dilber çün ṣabâya rû ṭutar
Zülfi bûyıyla cihân eṭrâfını ḫoş-bû ṭutar
Bir güzeller şâhını ḥüsn içre gördüm nâ-gehân
Ser-te-ser dil mülkini didüm ki âḫir bu ṭutar
Çeşm-i pür-efsûn ile diller ḳomaz bend itmedük
Siḥr ile beñzer cihânı bu iki câdû ṭutar
Fürḳatüñden iñlesem ditrer zemîn ü âsumân
Ḥasretüñden aġlasam işbu cihânı ṣu ṭutar
Mihrî'ye raḥm it bugün yoḫsa bilürsin dostum
İrteden tîz ḥüsnüñüñ âyînesini mû ṭutar

In English

1. When the beauty turns her face to the morning breeze at every daybreak, she fills the whole world, in every direction, with the sweet scent of her hair. (Rû tutmak is to turn the face, to face toward; hoş-bû tutmak is to fill a place with fragrance. The morning breeze is imagined as a messenger carrying the scent of the beloved's hair to the world.)

2. In beauty I suddenly saw a king of the beautiful, and I said: "In the end this one will seize the kingdom of hearts from end to end, will conquer it."

3. With her enchanted eyes she leaves no heart unbound; it seems these two sorceresses take the world with magic. (The beloved's two eyes are likened to two witches who bind hearts.)

4. If I lament over your separation, earth and sky tremble; if I weep from longing for you, water seizes this world and floods it.

5. My friend, take pity on Mihrî today; otherwise, you know, sooner than tomorrow down will cover the mirror of your beauty. (The beloved's face is likened to a mirror; the fine down appearing on the face is like the rust and dust that cover a mirror. Beauty passes quickly; the beloved should show mercy to the lover while her beauty lasts.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal stands fifty-second 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 "ṭutar" ("holds, takes"); the rhyme rests on the sound "-û": rû, ḫoş-bû, bu, câdû, ṣu, mû. The ghazal is found in all four manuscripts; the manuscript variants mostly concern spelling and word order. It is not known for whom it was written. According to Sıtkı Nazik's comparison, the divan of Mihrî's fellow Amasyan Tâcîzâde Cafer Çelebi also contains a ghazal with the redif "tutar"; the two poems meet only in the redif, and their rhymes differ.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The most distinctive feature of the ghazal is that the redif verb "tutar" is used in a different sense in every couplet. In the first couplet it occurs twice: the beloved "turns her face" to the wind, that is, faces it; the scent of her hair "holds the world with a sweet fragrance", that is, fills it. In the second couplet the verb means to conquer, to take a country; in the third it describes sorceresses holding the world with magic, that is, bringing it under their influence. In the fourth couplet "su tutmak" is a flood covering a place; in the fifth "mû tutmak" is down covering the surface of the mirror. This variety in the redif gives the ghazal the liveliness of a wordplay.

In the second couplet, through the expressions "king of the beautiful" and "kingdom of the heart", a congruence of images (tenasüp) of sovereignty and conquest is built. In the third couplet the words "çeşm-i pür-efsûn" (an eye full of enchantment), "bend itmek" (to bind), "siḥr" (magic) and "câdû" (sorceress) are taken from the circle of sorcery. Kaya notes that in the divan the sorceress called "câdû" is used for the beloved's eyes, that the eye leaves no heart unbound by magic, and that the magic of these two sorceresses covers the whole world.

The fourth couplet is a clear example of hyperbole. Kaya cites it to explain that when the lover groans with the pain of separation the earth and sky tremble, and that the world is drowned in water from her tears. In the couplet "fürḳat" and "ḥasret", "iñlemek" and "aġlamak", "zemîn" and "âsumân" are set in pairs; the lines are built like echoes of one another.

The pen-name couplet is a warning that recalls the transience of beauty. Kaya notes that the beloved's face is likened to a mirror in that it reflects radiance and manifestations, but that a mirror gathers dust in time, and that as dust and rust the down that covers the beloved's face is meant. The lover asks the beloved to take pity while her beauty is not yet spoiled, because "sooner than tomorrow" this beauty will be covered by down. In divan poetry the appearance of down is taken as the beginning of the end of a young beauty's loveliness; Mihrî uses this belief to persuade the beloved.

Bibliography

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