Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilün

‘Ārıżuñ ‘arż ideliden ḫaṭ-ı reyḥân-şekil
Beni dîvâne ḳılup eyledi ḥayrân-şekil
Ḳaşlaruñ Zühre cebînüñde ki ṭuġrâ çekdi
Ne ḳalem yazdı ḫaṭuñ üstine ‘unvân-şekil
Lâle-ḫaddüñde irüp zülf-i siyâhuña ṣabâ
Gör ne zînetler ider sünbül ü reyḥân-şekil
Dil deler ġamzeñ oḳına yer ola anuñ içün
Derd ile kendü özin eyledi peykân-şekil
Lâlenüñ derd ile dâġ oldı ḥasedden cigeri
‘Ārıżuñ ‘arż ideli sen gül-i ḫandân-şekil
Dü-cihân gülşeni bil gözüme zindân görinür
Baña yâr olmayıcaḳ sen büt-i Rıḍvân-şekil
‘Ālemüñ ḫalḳı yoluñda nice cân virmeye kim
Ṣâni‘uñ ṣun‘ı ṭapuñdur yüzüñ îmân-şekil
Göreli çâh-ı zenaḫdânuña düşdi dil ü cân
Eyledi başuma ‘âlemleri zindân-şekil
Çeşm-i şehlâñı ne remz ile işâretler ider
Dil ü cân ḳaṣdına gör nergis-i fettân-şekil
Mihr ü meh beñzeye mi yüzüñe öykünmek ile
Ger ola lebleri pür-la‘l-i Bedaḫşân-şekil
Şevḳ-i dendânuñ ile la‘l-i dür-efşânuñ içün
Ḥâşe-lillâh ki diyem lü’lü ü mercân-şekil
Çevresin âb-ı ḥayâtuñ ki ṭutar mûr-ı ḫatuñ
Gûyiyâ ḫâtemidür mühr-i Süleymân-şekil
Mürde-i cân u dile virdi ḥayât-ı ebedî
Leblerüñ olduġıçün çeşme-i ḥayvân-şekil
Zülf-i ṭâvûsını gör gülşen-i ḥüsn içre nice
Cilveler ‘arż ḳılur her yaña cevlân-şekil
Ḳadd-i dil-cûy-ı nihâlini görüp râst didüm
Bu ne ḫoş mîve ile naḫl-i ḫırâmân-şekil
Olma ḫâmûş yaraşmaz saña ey ġonca dehen
Ḳıl tebessüm k'ola her gûşe gülistân-şekil
Leb-i mey-gûnı ḫayâlile gözüm ḫânesinüñ
Ḳabaġı ṣâfi ṭolupdur yine pür ḳan-şekil
Devr ide devr-i felek çenberi çarḫuñ yıḳıla
Görmeye sencileyin bir meh-i tâbân-şekil
Baña iḳbâl ü sa‘âdetde yeter manṣıb u câh
Vaṣluñuñ şemmesi ki geh ola iḥsân-şekil
Yüzüñe ḳarşu muḳâbil olamaz bedr-i ḳamer
Gördi burtardı yüzin eyledi noḳṣân-şekil
Dehenüñ sırrını bilmedügiçün ġonc'açılup
Ḳaldı ḥayretde yatur ḥâli perîşân-şekil
Ravża-i kûyuñı gördükde direm ḫuld-ı na‘îm
Yaraşur ḥûr ile ġılmân ola der-bân-şekil
‘Arş-ı a‘lâya irişür elüm ey şâh-ı cihân
Her ḳaçan kim varuram kûyuña mihmân-şekil
Devr-i Dârâ bozılup devr-i Sikender m'añılur
Şehriyâr olalı sen ḫusrev-i ḫâḳân-şekil
‘Īd-i vaṣluña irürsem eger ey mâh-liḳâ
Ḳılayın cânı fedâ yoluña ḳurbân-şekil
Gördi meydân-ı sa‘âdetde güneş ṭop oldı
Çünki Ḫân Aḥmed'üñ ol zülfini çevgân-şekil
Düşmenüñ başını tegreg gibi her yaña döker
Tîġ-ı ḳahruñ ki ḳaçan berḳ ura ‘uryân-şekil
Her ki yavuz ṣanur ise saña ey şâh-ı kerem
Gözi giryân ola vü sînesi biryân-şekil
Dilerem luṭf-ı şehen-şâh ile ma‘ẕûr ola
Mihrî'nüñ olmaduġın Lutfî'ye aḳrân-şekil
Şâh-ı ‘âlîden irişürse ‘inâyet naẓarı
‘Aceb olmaz ger olam şi‘r ile Selmân-şekil
Ḥamdü-lillâh ki ḫoşuz luṭf-ı nesîmiyle bugün
Āh eger çarḫ-ı felek cevr ide devrân-şekil
Āferîn diye vü taḥsîn ide Cibrîl-i Emîn
Her ḳaçan kim oḳusam medḥüñi Ḥassân-şekil

In English

1. Since your cheek displayed its down, shaped like basil (the fine, greenish hairs on the face), it has driven me mad and left me bewildered and amazed.

2. Your eyebrows have drawn a tughra on your forehead that shines like Venus (Zühre); and what a pen wrote above the down on your face, like the heading of a decree. (The tughra is the signature drawn at the head of the sultan's decrees; the arc of the eyebrow is likened to the tughra, and the down to the heading of the document.)

3. When the east wind passes your tulip-red cheek and reaches your black curl, see what adornments, shaped like hyacinth and basil, it makes.

4. So that the heart, which your sidelong glance pierces, may be a place for the arrow of your glance, it has, out of its pain, turned itself into the shape of an arrowhead (the iron at the tip of an arrow).

5. Since you displayed your cheek like a laughing, opened rose, the tulip's liver has been branded with envy and pain. (The black spot at the centre of the tulip is regarded as a burn mark on its liver.)

6. O beloved, beautiful as an idol from the garden of Ridvan, the keeper of paradise, know this: unless you are my friend, even the rose garden of both worlds looks to my eyes like a prison.

7. How should the people of the world not give their lives on your path, when the art of the Creator is seen in your being and your face is like a miracle that brings faith to a person? (The couplet can be read in two ways: if the word "ṭapu" is taken to mean "presence, rank", the sense is "the art of the Creator is in your presence"; if it is taken to mean "service, servitude", the sense is "the art of the Creator serves you".)

8. After the heart and soul saw the dimple of your chin (the well of your chin), they fell into that well; for this reason the worlds have become a prison to me.

9. See with what subtle hints your languid eye, like a mischievous narcissus, makes signs to attack the heart and soul.

10. Could the sun and moon resemble your face by emulating it, even if their lips were full of rubies of Badakhshan? (Badakhshan is the place from which the most precious red ruby is mined.)

11. In longing for your teeth and for your pearl-scattering ruby lips, God forbid that I should call them "like pearls and coral". (Teeth and lips are finer than both pearl and coral; this comparison is too little for them.)

12. When the ants of your down surround the rim of your lips, which are the water of life, it is as if a ring forms like the seal ring of the Prophet Solomon. (The mention of ants together with Solomon alludes to the Qur'anic story of the ants.)

13. Because your lips are like the spring of immortality, they gave eternal life to the dead soul and heart.

14. See, in the garden of beauty, your curl, like a peacock, shows off in many ways, swaying in every direction like a rider spurring his horse.

15. Seeing your stature, like a sapling that draws the heart, I spoke truly: "What a sweet-fruited, swaying palm tree this is." ("Râst" means both "true word" and "perfectly straight, upright"; it also alludes to the uprightness of the stature.)

16. O you with a mouth like a bud, do not stay silent, silence does not suit you; smile, so that every corner may become like a rose garden.

17. At the thought of your wine-coloured lips, the gourd of my eye's house is again filled right to the brim with blood. (The couplet can be read in two ways: if "gourd" is taken as the water gourd in which wine is kept, the eye is like a vessel filled with blood instead of wine; if it is taken as the eyelid, bloody tears have filled the eyelids.)

18. Though the heavens turn, though the rim of the wheel of the sky turn until it collapses, it will never again see a bright moon like you.

19. In fortune and happiness, this is enough for me as rank and standing: that the scent of union, a breath of it, reach me now and then like a gift.

20. The full moon cannot rival your face; it saw you, turned its face away, and, shrinking, became a crescent.

21. The bud, unable to solve the secret of your mouth, opened and was left in amazement; now its state is distraught and its petals lie scattered.

22. Seeing the garden of your quarter, I say "This is the eternal paradise full of blessings"; it would suit houris and the servants of paradise (the ghilman) to be doorkeepers there.

23. O shah of the world, whenever I come as a guest to your quarter, my hand reaches the highest Throne.

24. Since you became a ruler like the khusraus and khaqans, the age of Darius has been undone; is the age of Alexander still mentioned now? (The ancient Persian king Darius was defeated by Alexander and lost his throne; now the names of both are forgotten.)

25. O moon-faced one, if I attain the festival of union with you, let me sacrifice my soul on your path like a victim of sacrifice.

26. The sun, on seeing that curled lock of Khan Ahmed's hair, shaped like a polo stick, became a ball on the field of felicity. (The çevgan is the stick with a curved end used to strike the ball in the game of polo on horseback; the curled lock is likened to this stick, and the sun to the ball struck with it.)

27. When your wrathful sword leaves its sheath and flashes like lightning, it rolls the enemy's head in every direction like something round.

28. O shah of generosity, may the eyes of everyone who thinks ill of you weep and their breasts burn like a kebab.

29. I pray that, through the grace of the king of kings, it may be forgiven that Mihrî is not the equal of Lutfî in poetry.

30. If a glance of favour from the exalted shah reaches me, it would be no wonder if I became like Selman in poetry. (Selman is the Persian poet Selman-i Savaji, famous for his kasides.)

31. Thanks be to God, today I am content with the breeze of your grace; but alas, if the turning heaven begins its tyranny again as is the way of time (what then).

32. Whenever I recite your praise like Hassan, may the trusted angel Gabriel say "well done" and commend me. (Hassan ibn Thabit is the Companion-poet known for his poems in praise of the Prophet.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This poem of thirty-two couplets is a kaside. In divan poetry the kaside is a long verse form written to praise a great person, to celebrate a festival or to treat a religious subject; the two lines of the first couplet rhyme with each other, and the second lines of the following couplets rhyme with the first couplet. The poem is written in the aruz pattern "Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilün" of the ramal bahr. All the couplets rhyme on the sound "-ân" (reyḥân, ḥayrân, ‘unvân, peykân, zindân, Süleymân…), and at the end of every line the word "şekil", meaning "like, in the form of", is repeated as the redif. This redif, repeated thirty-two times, gives the kaside the look of a chain of comparisons: in every couplet the poet shows the beloved or the memduh as being "in the shape of" something.

The classical sections of the kaside are interwoven here. In Mehmet Arslan's edition the heading is "Ḳaṣîde-i Sulṭân Aḥmed"; in the M copy the same kaside appears under the heading "Ḳaṣîde-i Ḫâmis" (fifth kaside), and in the Ü copy under "Velehu Fî Medḥihi Ṭâbe S̱erâhu". In Tıba Akram Abdulrazzaq's thesis on the kasides, couplets 1-28 are treated as the praise (methiye), couplet 29 as the "taç beyit" in which the poet mentions her name, and the last couplet as the prayer section. Indeed, unlike many kasides that open with a description of nature, the poem opens directly with a praise of beauty, and the name of the memduh appears only in couplet 26, as "Ḫân Aḥmed". From couplet 23 on, with the forms of address "şâh-ı cihân", "şehriyâr" and "şâh-ı kerem", the description of the beloved turns into praise of a ruler; in couplets 29-30 the poet speaks of her own poetry, and in couplets 31-32 she closes the kaside with thanks and prayer.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first half of the kaside is built entirely from the divan poetry's description of the beloved. The cheek is likened to the rose and tulip, the curl to hyacinth and basil, the eye to the narcissus, the stature to a swaying sapling and a palm tree, the lip to the ruby and the water of immortality, the teeth to pearls. It is notable that the down on the face (ḫaṭ) is mentioned in three different couplets (1, 2, 12): as Abdulrazzaq also notes, this down is the sign of a handsome youth who has newly come of age. In praising the prince, Mihrî describes him as the beloved of a ghazal; the relation between poet and memduh is built in the language of lover and beloved.

Most of the comparisons are strengthened by a fanciful cause, that is, by the art of hüsn-i talil. The black spot at the centre of the tulip is the wound that opened in its liver from envy of the beloved's rose cheek (5); the waning of the moon into a crescent comes from its being unable to rival the beloved's face and turning its head away (20); the bud opens and its petals scatter because it could not solve the secret of the beloved's mouth and fell into amazement (21). In couplet 26 the thought of the sun as a ball and of the curled lock as the polo stick is an image taken from the game of polo on horseback, a part of court life. The comparison of tughra and heading in couplet 2 also belongs to the world of the palace scribes: the eyebrow is a sultan's signature drawn on the forehead, and the down is the heading of a decree.

Word play holds an important place in the texture of the kaside. In the first couplet there is a pun (cinas) between "‘ârıż" (cheek) and "‘arż" (showing, presenting), based on their similarity of sound, and this pair is repeated in couplet 5. In couplet 12 ant, seal and Solomon are mentioned together, alluding to the Qur'anic story of the ants; in couplet 8 the juxtaposition of the well of the chin and the prison recalls the story of Joseph, who was thrown into a well and fell into prison. The mention of Darius and Alexander in couplet 24 is discussed in Mahmut Başaran's article on the influence of the Shahnameh on the Divan of Mihrî. Başaran reads the couplet as "Since you became ruler, has the age of Darius been undone, and is the age of Alexander still mentioned?", and notes that through the allusion to Darius's defeat by Alexander and the forgetting of his name, it is being said that Ahmed has cast them into shadow.

In the last couplets the poet compares herself with two famous poets of praise. She says that if the prince's interest reaches her she could become a kaside poet like Selman-i Savaji (30), and likens her praise to the eulogies of Hassan ibn Thabit, the poet of the Prophet (32). In the kaside tradition these two allusions are the usual way for a poet to express both her claim to mastery and the patronage she expects from the memduh. Who the Lutfî mentioned in couplet 29 is, is not explained in the edition; Abdulrazzaq counts him among the poets of the time and says that Mihrî shows modesty here. In the same couplet the juxtaposition of "luṭf-ı şehen-şâh" (the grace of the king of kings) and the name "Lutfî" creates a sound play: the poet seeks to be excused for not being the equal of Lutfî by taking refuge in the prince's grace.

Historical Context

For whom the kaside was written is clear both from the heading in the edition and from the phrase "Ḫân Aḥmed" in couplet 26: the memduh is Prince Ahmed, son of Bayezid II, who was in Amasya as sanjak governor from 1481 to 1512. According to Arslan, Ahmed, like his father, gathered poets, scholars and musicians around him, and Mihrî took her place in this circle. Of the seventeen kasides in the divan ten were presented to this prince, and Arslan notes that nearly all of them were written as greetings for the festivals of Ramadan or Sacrifice. Sehî Beg also records that Mihrî gave Prince Ahmed many kasides and ghazals.

In this kaside the festival is not openly celebrated; the words "festival of union" and "sacrifice" in couplet 25 appear as a comparison. For this reason it is not known whether the poem was presented on the occasion of a particular festival or simply as praise; Abdulrazzaq too treats it as a methiye. The sources also have no information about the date of composition. The praise of the prince as a beloved may be read together with Arslan's description of Mihrî as a poet who reflects her love without concealment; but praising the memduh in the language of a beloved is a common course in the kaside tradition, and no personal relationship between poet and prince can be inferred from the couplets.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, pp. 31-34, Kaside 8 ("Ḳaṣîde-i Sulṭân Aḥmed"); introduction, pp. 4-6. ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Academic studies

  • Tıba Akram Abdulrazzaq, Mihri Hatun'un Kasidelerinin Muhtevası ve Şerhi, master's thesis, Karabük University, 2022, section "Sekizinci Kaside". acikerisim.karabuk.edu.tr
  • Mahmut Başaran, "Şehnâme'nin Mihrî Hatun Dîvânı'na Etkileri", Avrasya Beşeri Bilim Araştırmaları Dergisi 3/1 (2023), pp. 116-132.

Books

Online sources