Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Teşnedür dil leblerüñden çeşme-i cân eyle ‘arż
Ḫıżr-veş ẓulmetde ḳaldum âb-ı ḥayvân eyle ‘arż
Ruḫlaruñuñ pertevin setr itmesün kâfir ḫaṭuñ
Hey begüm göster cemâlüñ nûrın îmân eyle ‘arż
Müntehâ ḳaddüñ gibi bir nâr-ven görsün henüz
Bûstâna gel bugün serv-i ḫırâmân eyle ‘arż
Pâdişâhum seyr iderken bâġ-ı ḥüsnüñ gûşesin
Bu dil-i dervîşüñe sîb-i zenaḫdân eyle ‘arż
Ḫâk-i pâyine nis̱âr itmeklik içün dilberüñ
Ḳanlu yaşuñdan i Mihrî dürr ü mercân eyle ‘arż

In English

1. The heart is thirsty for your lips; offer the spring of the soul. Like Khidr I have been left in the darkness; show me the water of life. (According to legend, the water of immortality lies in the Land of Darkness, and it was Khidr (Hızır) who found it. The beloved's lip is likened to this water.)

2. Let the infidel down of your beard not cover the radiance of your cheeks; O my lord, show the light of your face and make faith manifest. (The dark down is called an "infidel" because it veils the face; the Arabic root of küfür, unbelief, means "to cover." The luminous face, by contrast, is faith.)

3. Let the pomegranate-like (nâr-ven) tree see, for once, one as lofty as your stature; come to the orchard today and show your swaying cypress of a figure. (Nârven is a tall tree; according to Kaya it is the elm. The Ü manuscript lacks the words "bir nâr-ven.")

4. My sovereign, as you stroll through one corner of the garden of your beauty, offer this dervish heart of yours the apple of your chin. (The chin is likened to an apple because of its roundness. The lover, before a beloved who is a king, begs a favour like a poor dervish.)

5. O Mihrî, in order to scatter them at the dust of your beloved's feet, offer pearls and coral made from your bloody tears. (Nisar is the custom of showering coins or jewels on the path or at the feet of great persons. The drops of tears are likened to pearls and the bloody ones to coral.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The sixty-eighth ghazal (gazel) of the divan consists of five couplets (beyit) and is written in the remel foot of aruz (quantitative metre) in the pattern "Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün." The rhyme is the sound "-ân" (cân, ḥayvân, îmân, ḫırâmân, zenaḫdân, mercân), and the redif (refrain word) is "eyle ‘arż" (offer, show, set forth). The ghazal stands in the section Ḥarfü'ḍ-Ḍâd, which holds the poems ending in the letter "ż." It is found in all four manuscripts (F 48a, M 68b, S 50a, Ü 43a); the differences between them are limited to a few minor variant readings. In Sıtkı Nazik's study comparing the refrains in the divans of Mihrî Hatun and Tâcîzâde Cafer Çelebi, this refrain appears only in Mihrî's table. Nothing is known about whom it was written for.

The refrain turns the whole ghazal into a series of requests. In every couplet the lover asks the beloved to "offer" something, that is, to show or present it: the water of the lip, the light of the face, the sway of the stature, the apple of the chin. In the closing couplet the order changes, and the poet addresses herself, asking this time that she herself offer something to the beloved.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet alludes to the story of Khidr and the water of life (âb-ı hayat). Gülşen Kaya observes that the water of life is among the most frequently mentioned elements in the divan, that it is used together with the words Khidr and darkness (zulmet), that it is likened to the beloved's lips as a water that confers immortality, and that the lover begs the beloved for this water at every opportunity; she cites this couplet as an example. The words teşne (thirsty), çeşme (spring) and âb-ı ḥayvân form a congruence of images (tenasüp). The lover compares herself to Khidr, but the darkness in which she remains is that of someone who has not found the water.

The second couplet appears in the section where Kaya explains the conceit of unbelief and faith. Kaya notes that unbelief (küfür) means covering, that one who covers the truth is called an infidel (kâfir) and is described with black, whereas faith is bright and open. Like the curl of hair, the down on the cheek is an infidel because it veils the face. In Kaya's reading the couplet builds a congruence of images with the words ruḫ, pertev, cemâl, nûr, îmân, kâfir, ‘arż and setr, so that it is almost worked out on this conceit. The oppositions between infidel and faith and between covering (setr) and showing (‘arż) also form the figure of antithesis (tezat).

The third couplet rests on the conceit of stature. Kaya lists the nârven among the trees, with the cypress, used to describe the beloved's stature, and cites this couplet as an example. The cypress is the best-known image in divan poetry for a tall and straight figure; the compound "serv-i ḫırâmân" (swaying cypress) compares the beloved's gait to a tree swaying in the wind. The trees of the garden are asked to see the beloved's stature and measure themselves against it, while the request that the cypress walk to the orchard from its place suggests that the beloved is more alive than any tree.

The fourth couplet presents the beloved as a king and the lover as a dervish. Kaya notes that the compound "dil-i derviş" is used in two couplets of the divan, in one of which the beloved, a king, is asked to give the dervish-heart that watches the garden of beauty a share of the apple of the chin as its due of sight. The words bâġ (garden), gûşe (corner) and sîb (apple) compose a garden scene, and the apple of the chin is the fruit of that garden. The contrast between king and dervish shows that what the lover asks is as small as a pauper's alms, while the favour expected is as great as a ruler's bounty.

The closing couplet rests on the custom of nisar. Just as jewels are scattered where great persons pass, the poet proposes to scatter pearls and coral made of bloody tears at the dust of the beloved's feet. The pearl corresponds to the beaded, shining look of tears, the coral to their blood. The pair "dürr ü mercân" is also used for teeth in divan poetry, but here it expresses tears. The sense of the refrain is reversed in this couplet as well: after the beloved has been asked throughout the ghazal to offer something, in the last couplet it is the lover who offers.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Culture and Tourism Publications (Cultural Works Series 576), 2018, p. 87, Ghazal 68 (F 48a, M 68b, S 50a, Ü 43a).

Academic studies

  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Divânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat University Institute of Social Sciences, Elazığ 2010, pp. 38, 50, 75, 173, 282. openaccess.firat.edu.tr
  • Sıtkı Nazik, "Benzer Redifli Şiirleri Bağlamında Mihrî Hatun ve Tâcî-zâde Cafer Çelebi'nin Karşılaştırılması", Uluslararası Amasya Âlimleri Sempozyumu Bildiriler Kitabı II, Amasya 2017, pp. 133-148 (refrain table, p. 137).

Online sources