Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Didi dilber yapayın göñlini sen vîrânenüñ
Ben didüm cân mülketine ḥükmi var cânânenüñ
Ḳıṣṣa-i Mecnûn ile Leylî'yi bilürdük yaḳîn
Ḥâline baḳsañ ḥabîbüm bu dil-i dîvânenüñ
Ṭutuşur şem‘uñ zebânı micmerüñ göynür özi
Yanduġın gördükçe ruḫsâruña ben pervânenüñ
‘Aşḳdan fâriġ olan diller ne bilsün ḥâlini
Ṭutuşup hecr âteşiyle gice gündüz yananuñ
Çün ṣabâ peyki getürdi yâr kûyından es̱er
Müjdegânı cân gerekdür Mihrî bu şükrânenüñ

In English

1. The beloved said, "Let me rebuild the heart of one in ruins like you"; I said that in the realm of the soul the beloved's command is law (she may do as she wishes). (The F manuscript reads "mülkine" in place of "mülketine"; the sense does not change.)

2. We knew the tale of Majnun and Layla closely; my beloved, if you were to look at the state of this mad heart (you would see the same tale there).

3. As I watch the moth burn for your cheek, the tongue of the candle catches fire and the very essence of the censer burns. (The candle's flame is likened to a tongue; candle and censer burn too when they look on the lover's burning.)

4. How could hearts free of love know the state of one who catches fire in the flame of separation and burns night and day.

5. Since the zephyr, the messenger, has brought a trace from the beloved's quarter, O Mihrî, the reward for this glad tidings must be the soul (whoever brings this news must be given a life).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The eighty-seventh ghazal of the Divan has five couplets and is written in the remel metre of the aruz, in the pattern "Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün". Its redif is the genitive suffix "-nüñ / -nuñ" (-nin); the rhyme rests on the sound "-âne" (vîrâne, cânâne, dîvâne, pervâne, şükrâne). The word "yananuñ" in the fourth couplet does not fully answer the rhyme: where the other words have the sound "-âne", here it is "-anan"; the ear completes the difference through the repetition of the short a. The poem is found in all four manuscripts used by Arslan (F, M, S, Ü). Nothing is known about whom it was written for.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal opens with a conversation. The beloved offers to repair the lover's ruined heart; the lover answers by saying that in the realm of the soul the command belongs to the beloved. The contrast between "vîrâne" (a ruin) and "yapmak" (to rebuild) rests on the language of divan poetry that thinks of the heart as a building or a city. Gülşen Kaya notes that in the Divan the architect is often used as a simile for the beloved who restores the ruined house of the heart. The phrase "cân mülketi" (the realm of the soul) also shows the beloved as a ruler; the words realm, command and rebuilding form a congruence of images (tenasüp).

In the second couplet an allusion is made to Layla and Majnun, one of the best known of the love stories. The lover says that everyone knows this story, but that if the beloved looks at her "dîvâne" heart she will see the same story there. Kaya notes that in this couplet tevriye and tenasüp are made through the relation of the word "dîvâne" (mad) with the name "Mecnûn" (mad), and that Layla and Majnun is alluded to. Majnun's name already means "mad"; the mad heart thus becomes a present-day repetition of his tale.

The third couplet is built on one of the best-known motifs of divan poetry, the candle and the moth. The moth is the night butterfly that flies toward the light and falls into the flame, and it is the symbol of the lover who sacrifices herself for the beloved. Here the moth is the poet herself; her throwing herself into the flame is for the beloved's cheek. The "tongue" of the candle, that is, its flame, catches fire when it sees this burning, and the interior of the censer burns. Candle and censer are imagined as witnesses that themselves take fire before the lover's burning. Kaya notes that in Mihrî's Divan the candle is the beloved's cheek and the moth the lover and her heart, and she explains this couplet as the tongue of the candle catching fire and the essence of the censer burning when it sees the lover burning at the cheek like a moth. Likening the candle's flame to a tongue is a metaphor (istiare), and the words candle, censer, fire and moth also form a congruence of images. The word "göynür" in the couplet comes from the verb "göynemek", to burn, to be inflamed inside.

The fourth couplet ties this burning to a general statement: hearts free of love cannot know the state of the one who burns night and day in the fire of separation. Kaya explains with this couplet that to understand the pain of the fire of separation one must be in love and burn with love.

In the closing couplet the morning wind, saba, brings a trace from the beloved's quarter as a messenger (peyk). In divan poetry saba is the wind that carries news between the beloved and the lover. A tip given to the bringer of glad tidings is called "müjdegâne", and a gift given in return for joy "şükrâne"; Mihrî says that the only return for this news can be a life. Kaya shows with this couplet that in the Divan it is said that the lover must give her life as glad tidings to the saba messenger who brings a trace from the beloved's land, and that the gift of thanks is generally the lover's life.

Bibliography

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, p. 97, Ghazal 87 (F 55a, M 76b, S 57a, Ü 48b). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Divânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2010, pp. 74, 88, 91, 116, 167, 209, 235. openaccess.firat.edu.tr