Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Nitekim yâruñ yolında cân virüp itdüm heves
Vuṣlatına bulmadum ‘âlemde bir gün dest-res
Yıllar ile görmezem yârum yüzin ben müdde‘î
Sâyesi gibi ḳatından eksük olmaz bir nefes
La‘l-i şîrînüñe ben cân virürem irmez elüm
Āh kim ḳarşumda dâ’im lâ-tekellüf yir meges
Nice feryâd idesin ‘aşḳuñ belâsından göñül
Bulmaduñ ‘âlemde çün feryâduña feryâd-res
‘Ārife bir ḥarf besdür hîç taṭvîl eyleme
Ṭâli‘uñ yoḳdur güzellerden i Mihrî sözi kes
Kûyuñ içre giceler tâ ṣubḥ olınca dostum
İtlerüñle hem-dem olduġum baña ‘âlemde bes
‘Āşıḳuñ ḳadrin bilür yolında cân virseñ revâ
Bî-vefâ hercâyiler sevdâsına yelmek ‘abes

In English

1. However much I longed to give my life on the beloved's path, my hand never reached her union in this world, not for a single day.

2. For years I have been unable to see my beloved's face; the rival, like her shadow, is not missing from her side for even a breath. (Müddei: the claimant, the rival who lays claim to love. Manuscript M reads "yârüñ": "the beloved's face...")

3. I would give my life for your sweet ruby lip but my hand does not reach it; alas, before my eyes a fly feeds from it without the least hesitation, endlessly. (The couplet can be understood in two ways: the fly may be the beauty mark at the corner of the lip, or the rival who can approach the lip at ease.)

4. O heart, how long will you cry out against the affliction of love; you have found no one in the world who would answer your cry.

5. One letter is enough for the knowing one, do not prolong it; O Mihrî, you have no fortune with beauties, cut your words short. (Ârif: one who grasps the subtlety of a matter, the intuitive person. It recalls the saying "the knowing one needs no explanation.")

6. My friend, to keep company with your dogs in your street through the nights until morning is enough for me in this world.

7. To give your life on the path of one who knows the value of the lover is fitting; to run after the love of faithless, fickle, inconstant beauties is in vain. (Yelmek: to run, to rush about. Hercâyî: one who appears everywhere and is attached to no one.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The sixty-fifth ghazal (gazel) of the divan has seven couplets (beyit) and is composed in the remel metre of the aruz (quantitative metre), in the pattern "Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün". The ghazal has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is formed by the sound "-es" (heves, dest-res, nefes, meges, feryâd-res, kes, bes, ‘abes). Because the number of words ending in this sound is small, the poet brings together Persian (dest-res, feryâd-res, meges, bes), Arabic (heves, nefes, ‘abes) and Turkish (kes) words. The ghazal is found in all four manuscripts (F 47a, M 66b, S 49b, Ü 42a). The fifth couplet, in which the pen name (mahlas) appears, stands in manuscript F as the seventh, that is, the last couplet; read in that order the ghazal closes with the couplet bearing the pen name, as the usual arrangement of divan poetry requires. There is no information about to whom it was addressed.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal describes the lover's helplessness before an unreachable beloved and the kind of submission he finally arrives at. In the first couplet the wish to give one's life and the failure of the hand to reach union are set side by side. The word "dest-res" (reach of the hand) meets the words "irmez elüm" (my hand does not reach) in the third couplet; thus the first half of the poem is the repetition of the same lack in different forms.

In the second couplet the rival is likened to the beloved's shadow. Gülşen Kaya notes that the rival is occasionally called a shadow in the divan, and that this description is made because of the shadow's darkness, its colour and its following; she cites this couplet as well. That the rival is never missing from the beloved's side for a breath, beside a face the lover has not seen for years, sharpens the contrast between the two situations. The difference in time between "years" and "a breath" strengthens this contrast too.

The third couplet is the only example in which a fly appears, among the animals that Kaya says are mentioned in the divan with a single couplet each. According to Kaya the fly is a comparison for the beauty mark at the corner of the beloved's lip. Because the lip is likened to sugar and syrup for its sweetness, the black mark at the lip's edge resembles a fly that has settled on that sweetness. That a fly should settle and feed "lâ-tekellüf," that is, without the least hesitation, on a lip that the lover's hand cannot reach expresses jealousy with a fine humour. The words la‘l (ruby) and şîrîn (sweet) together give the colour and the taste of the lip.

In the fourth couplet a play of sound and meaning is built between "feryâd" and "feryâd-res" (one who answers the cry, who helps), words of the same root. The lover addresses his own heart and tells it that it laments in vain.

The fifth couplet occurs in the section in which Kaya treats the concepts of irfan (gnosis) and ârif (the knowing one). Kaya notes that the possessor of irfan is called an ârif, that an ârif does not need many words, that one letter is enough for him, and she gives this couplet as an example. The poet applies this thought to her own speech: she addresses herself with "taṭvîl eyleme" (do not prolong) and "sözi kes" (cut the words short). This is a closing signal about the poem itself within the poem; Mihrî admits that she has no fortune with beauties and decides to stop speaking.

The sixth couplet uses the conceit of keeping company with dogs in the beloved's street. In divan poetry even the dogs at the beloved's door have a closeness that the lover envies; the lover counts waiting with them from night until morning as happiness enough. The word "bes" (enough) meets "besdür" in the fifth couplet as well.

The last couplet ties the thought of the ghazal to a piece of advice. A life is worth giving only on the path of a beloved who knows the lover's value; to run about for "faithless hercâyîs" is in vain. This couplet returns to the wish of the first couplet to give one's life and makes it conditional. Kaya says that because the hercâyî beloved shows favour to everyone but the lover, she is used in the divan as an element of address. The opposition between "revâ" (fitting) and "‘abes" (in vain) joins the two lines of the couplet.

Bibliography

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, pp. 85-86, Ghazal 65 (F 47a, M 66b, S 49b, Ü 42a). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Divânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2010, pp. 53, 137, 249, 281. openaccess.firat.edu.tr