Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Vezin: Feʻilātün feʻilātün feʻilātün feʻilün

Dil-berān içre seniñ ṭarzıña ḳurbān olayım
ꜤĀşıḳa mūnis olur yār-ı dil-ārāsın sen
Bu sözümden güzelim ola ṣaḳın āzürde
Şimdi būsun ile Ꜥālemde temāşāsın sen
Ben [nice] olmayayım zülfiñe dil-beste seniñ
Cümle ḫūbānı esīr itmede yektāsın sen
Mihriyā eyle ferāġat heves-i dil-berden
Bu reviş ile nice bir Ꜥāleme rüsvāsın sen

In English

1. Among beauties, may I be sacrificed to your manner; you are a beloved who shows closeness to the lover, who adorns the heart.

2. My beauty, take care not to be hurt by this word of mine: now, through your kiss, you have become one at whom the world gazes. (The second line is not clear. If the word "būsun" is read as "your kiss", the lover hints without wounding at the beloved's generous bestowal of her kisses on others; the plea "do not be hurt" in the first line supports this reproachful reading. The word may also be understood as praise, in the sense of "beauty to be gazed upon".)

3. How could I not be bound in heart to your tress? In taking all beauties captive you are unique.

4. O Mihrî, give up your desire for beauties; going on like this, until when will you be a disgrace to the world?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This four-couplet ghazal is not found in Mihrî Hatun's divan. It appears under the heading "Mihrī-i Rüsvā" on folio 58b of the poetry miscellany numbered 43 Va 2871 in the Kütahya Vahid Paşa Provincial Public Library and was published by Mutlu Muhammet Aktaş in 2023. Aktaş found clues of language and style suggesting that the ghazals under the pen name Mihrî in the miscellany belong to Mihrî Hatun, but also plainly admitted that no firm judgment can be reached. The ghazal can therefore be attributed to Mihrî Hatun only as a possibility. It is not known for whom it was written.

The ghazal is written in the remel metre, in the pattern "feʻilātün feʻilātün feʻilātün feʻilün". The refrain is "-sın sen" and the rhyme is the "-â" sound: dil-ārā, temāşā, yektā, rüsvā. There is a noteworthy irregularity of form: the first couplet of the ghazal is not a matla with both lines rhymed, as the rule requires. Its first line ends with "ḳurbān olayım" and does not fit the refrain. In addition, four couplets are below the minimum of five that is usual for a ghazal. On the same folio, under the same heading, in the same metre, refrain and rhyme, there is one more ghazal (Miscellany Ghazal 10); its matla is regular, but it has no pen name. When these two irregularities are considered together, it suggests that the two texts in the miscellany may in fact be two parts of a single ghazal. This is an observation arising from the texts themselves; there is no such assessment in Aktaş's article, and the ghazals are given in the edition under separate numbers.

The heading "Mihrī-i Rüsvā" (disgraced Mihrî) in the miscellany seems to be taken from the word "rüsvā" in the last couplet. Aktaş thinks that headings of this kind in the miscellany were put by the compiler rather than the poet, according to the subject of the ghazal.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal begins with praise of the beloved and ends with counsel the lover gives herself. In the first couplet the lover wishes to be sacrificed to the beloved's manner; the beloved is one who shows closeness (mūnis) to the lover and adorns the heart (dil-ārā). The second couplet mixes a slight reproach into the praise: the lover first says "take care not to be hurt", then says that the beloved has become a spectacle for the world. This delicacy is an example of the divan manner in which direct reproach of the beloved is softened with courtesy.

In the third couplet the beloved's tress is a bond and the beauties are her captives. Gülşen Kaya notes that in Mihrî's divan lovers are thought of as servants of the beloved-king, and the chain that binds them is the beloved's hair. The words "dil-beste" (bound in heart) and "esīr" (captive) rest on this conception; the beloved is unique (yektā) in taking captive not only lovers but all beauties.

In the last couplet the poet addresses herself as "Mihriyā" and asks herself to give up her desire for beauties, otherwise she will be disgraced before the world. The lover's being disgraced (rüsvā) in public is often treated in divan poetry as the price of love; Kaya too shows that in Mihrî's divan the lover is called by epithets such as mad, divane, rüsvā and Mecnun. That the heading "Mihrī-i Rüsvā" that Aktaş identified has been put on both ghazals together also suggests that the compiler of the miscellany regarded this couplet as the main feeling of the ghazal.

Bibliography

  • Mutlu Muhammet Aktaş, "Mihrî Hatun'un Yayımlanmamış Gazelleri", Hikmet-Akademik Edebiyat Dergisi 9/18 (Spring 2023), pp. 105-126, doi:10.28981/hikmet.1200789; ghazal 11 (Kütahya Vahid Paşa Provincial Public Library 43 Va 2871, fol. 58b), p. 118; compiler's headings p. 111; evaluation pp. 110-112.
  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Divânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat University Institute of Social Sciences, Elazığ 2010, pp. 84-85, 196. openaccess.firat.edu.tr

Online sources