Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Güzeller ile göñül gerçi âşinâlardur
Velîk her dem olardan gelen cefâlardur
Dimezler ‘âşıḳı gördükçe mübtelâlardur
Fiġân güzeller elinden ki bî-vefâlardur
Egerçi ‘âdetidür ḫûblaruñ çü ‘âşıḳa nâz
İñende ḥadden aşurmayup itseler hele az
Geçürdiler günümüz her dem âh ile ḳış u yaz
Fiġân güzeller elinden ki bî-vefâlardur
Cefâların göre ‘âşıḳ vefâların aġyâr
Sürer cihânda münâfıḳ ṣafâların her bâr
Seveni kendüleri sevmege iderler ‘âr
Fiġân güzeller elinden ki bî-vefâlardur
Vefâlu gerçi güzel çoḳ dinürdi devrânda
Biz anı görmemişüzdür cihânda bir anda
Bilimedüm bularuñ nâmı var nişân ḳanda
Fiġân güzeller elinden ki bî-vefâlardur
Ölince Mihrî cihânda bu sırrı itme tebâh
Yaḳañı çâk idüp it gördügüñe derd ile âh
Mezâruñ üzre biten ḥaşr olunca diye giyâh
Fiġân güzeller elinden ki bî-vefâlardur

In English

1. The heart is, to be sure, acquainted with the beautiful; but what comes from them at every moment is only torment; whenever they see the lover, they do not even acknowledge that he is infatuated with them. Alas, because of the beautiful, for they are faithless.

2. It is indeed the custom of the beautiful to be coquettish toward the lover; if only they would not exceed the limit in doing so, if only they would do it a little less. They have made us pass our days, winter and summer, in sighs at every moment. Alas, because of the beautiful, for they are faithless. (The reading and meaning of the word "iñende" in the line are unclear; the rendering follows the general sense of the couplet.)

3. The lover sees their cruelty, while strangers see their fidelity; in the world the hypocrites enjoy their pleasures every time. They think it beneath them to love the one who loves them. Alas, because of the beautiful, for they are faithless.

4. It used to be said that faithful beauties were many in the world; we have not seen one even for a single moment. I could not tell where, though they have a name, their trace is to be found. Alas, because of the beautiful, for they are faithless.

5. Mihrî, until you die do not divulge this secret in the world (do not give away your love); tear open your collar and sigh in grief at whomever you meet; so that, when the resurrection comes, even the grass that grows over your grave will say: "Alas, because of the beautiful, for they are faithless."

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The second murabba of the divan consists of five stanzas and is recorded in the edition in the metre "Mefâ‘ilün Fe‘ilâtün Mefâ‘ilün Fe‘ilün". The fourth line of every stanza is an unchanging refrain: "Fiġân güzeller elinden ki bî-vefâlardur". In the first stanza all four lines rhyme on the sound "-âlardur" (âşinâlardur, cefâlardur, mübtelâlardur, bî-vefâlardur); in the later stanzas the first three lines form a new rhyme among themselves ("nâz / az / yaz", "aġyâr / bâr / ‘âr", "devrânda / anda / ḳanda", "tebâh / âh / giyâh"), while the refrain ties each stanza back to the first. The murabba is a verse form built from four-line stanzas; in this poem the refrain repeats the same lament at the end of every stanza. The poem is found only in the Ü manuscript. For whom and on what occasion it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The sole subject of the murabba is the faithlessness of the beautiful. Gülşen Kaya notes, in the section in which she studies the beloved's faithlessness, that a whole murabba of the divan is devoted to this theme, and she gives the fourth stanza as an example. The poem is addressed not to a single beloved but to "the beautiful", that is, to a whole type of beloved; for this reason it reads less as a love poem than as a letter of complaint about the conduct of beautiful people.

The first stanza opens with a contradiction: the heart is acquainted with the beautiful, yet what comes from them is only torment. The beautiful see that the lover is infatuated with them, but they do not acknowledge it. Because "âşinâ" (acquainted) and "cefâ" (cruelty), "mübtelâ" (infatuated) and "bî-vefâ" (faithless) are joined in the same rhyme, the contrast between acquaintance and faithlessness is also audible at the level of sound.

The second stanza recalls that in divan poetry the beloved's coquetry is accepted as a custom and does not object to it; the complaint is against exceeding the proper measure of coquetry. In the third stanza the three principal figures of divan poetry appear together: the lover, the beloved and the rival (aġyâr). The lover sees cruelty, strangers see fidelity; in the world the hypocrites enjoy the beloved's pleasures. The phrase at the end of the stanza, "Seveni kendüleri sevmege iderler ‘âr" (they think it beneath them to love the one who loves them), is the sharpest judgement in the poem and ties the faithlessness of the beautiful to a matter of pride.

The fourth stanza arrives at a verdict drawn from experience. It is said that faithful beauties are many, but no one has seen one; they have a name but no trace. This turn of phrase rests on the distinction between "nâm" and "nişân" (name and trace), and makes the faithful beauty a being whose name is known but who is never seen.

The last stanza sets a scene between death and the resurrection. Kaya lists this stanza among the examples in the divan in which death is described as coming from the beloved's hand and as the result of her cruelty, and she notes that the faithless beauties kill the lover. Mihrî advises herself not to give away the secret of her love until she dies; yet in the same stanza she also asks herself to tear her collar and sigh in grief at everyone she meets. At first sight these two pieces of advice contradict each other; the tension between keeping the secret of love and laying one's grief open to all carries the meaning of the stanza. In the last line of the stanza the refrain is put in the mouth of the grass growing over the grave. This lament, continuing even after death, rests on personification (teşhis) through the speaking of the grass, and on a congruence of images (tenasüp) in the relation between the day of resurrection and the grave. Thus in the last stanza the refrain becomes the words not of the lover but of the grass on his grave.

Bibliography

Online sources