Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Çekmişem ḥadden aşa cevr ü cefâsın felegüñ
Görmedüm ẕerre ḳadar mihr ü vefâsın felegüñ
Sürmedüm neyleyeyin ẕevḳ u ṣafâsın felegüñ
Āh elinden felegüñ dâd elinden felegüñ
Miḥnet ü derd ü belâ ile gözüm yaşlar ider
Ḥasret ü hecr ü cefâ ile dilüm başlar ider
Nideyin baña felek ummaduġum işler ider
Āh elinden felegüñ dâd elinden felegüñ
Arturur nâle ile şâm u seḥer zârumuzı
Aġladur bizi ne ḫoş güldürür aġyârumuzı
Āh u efġân ile her dem geçürür kârumuzı
Āh elinden felegüñ dâd elinden felegüñ
Hem-demi ġuṣṣa vü ġam eyledi devrân bize
Raḥm idüp luṭfını göstermedi bir ân bize
Pür ider kâseyi her dem içürür ḳan bize
Āh elinden felegüñ dâd elinden felegüñ
Her kimi görse anuñ gül gibi yüzine güler
Ṣoñradan ḫâr-ı cefâ tîġıyla baġrını deler
Ne özi göynür esirger ne ḫo yaşını siler
Āh elinden felegüñ dâd elinden felegüñ
Görmedük bir güli gülşende ki ṣolmaya felek
Ṣanma bir kimse ki itdügini bulmaya felek
Bu cihân bâḳî degül saña da ḳalmaya felek
Āh elinden felegüñ dâd elinden felegüñ
Nice sa‘yümüzi yoluñda hebâ eyleyesin
Nice bir ehle cefâ cehle vefâ eyleyesin
Mihrî'yi öldüricek kime cefâ eyleyesin
Āh elinden felegüñ dâd elinden felegüñ
Gözümüz yaşını döndürdi bizüm ḳanlara
Bir nefes derdümüz irgürmedi dermânlara
Ḥasret itdi bizi uş sevgülü cânânlara
Āh elinden felegüñ dâd elinden felegüñ

In English

1. I have suffered the cruelty and torment of fate (of fortune, of the turning heavens) beyond all measure; I have not seen an atom of its affection or fidelity. What can I do? I have never enjoyed its pleasure or delight. Alas, at the hands of fate; a cry for justice against fate.

2. Because of hardship, grief and calamity my eye sheds tears; because of longing, separation and torment my heart begins (to lament). What can I do? Fate does to me things I never expected. Alas, at the hands of fate; a cry for justice against fate.

3. Evening and morning it increases our lament with groans; it makes us weep and makes our rivals (aġyâr) laugh, and how sweetly. It makes us spend our days in sighs and cries at every moment. Alas, at the hands of fate; a cry for justice against fate.

4. The age has made sorrow and grief our companions; it has not pitied us or shown us its kindness for a single moment. It fills the cup at every moment and makes us drink blood. Alas, at the hands of fate; a cry for justice against fate.

5. Whomever it sees, it laughs in his rose-like face; afterwards it pierces his breast with the sword of the thorn of cruelty. It neither burns with pity nor spares him, nor does it wipe away his tears. Alas, at the hands of fate; a cry for justice against fate.

6. We have never seen a rose in the garden that fate did not wither. O fate, do not think that anyone will not find what he has done (you too will find what you have done); this world is not lasting, O fate, may it not remain to you either. Alas, at the hands of fate; a cry for justice against fate.

7. How long will you waste our labour on your road? How long will you show cruelty to the worthy and fidelity to the ignorant? Once you have killed Mihrî, to whom will you show cruelty? Alas, at the hands of fate; a cry for justice against fate.

8. It has turned the tears of our eyes into blood; it has not brought our pain to its remedy for even a breath. See, it has left us longing for our dear beloveds. Alas, at the hands of fate; a cry for justice against fate.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The fifth murabba of the divan consists of eight stanzas and is written in the remel metre of the aruz in the pattern "Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilün". The murabba, which is made up of four-line stanzas, is here of the repeating kind (mütekerrir): the line "Āh elinden felegüñ dâd elinden felegüñ" is repeated at the end of every stanza. All four lines of the first stanza end with the redif "felegüñ" and are tied by the rhyme "cefâsın, vefâsın, ṣafâsın". In the later stanzas the first three lines rhyme among themselves, and most of them also have a redif: "ider" in the second stanza ("yaşlar ider, başlar ider, işler ider"), "bize" in the fourth, "felek" in the sixth and "eyleyesin" in the seventh. In the table in Sıtkı Nazik's study comparing the redifs of Mihrî and Tâcîzâde Câfer Çelebi, this murabba appears with the redifs of five separate stanzas (felegüñ, ider, bize, felek, eyleyesin). In Arslan's edition the poem rests only on the Istanbul University manuscript (Ü 47b); in Didem Havlioğlu's electronic edition, which is based on this manuscript, it is poem 86. There is no record of whom it was written for or on what occasion.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The subject of the poem is complaint against fate. Felek, in the old understanding of the cosmos, is the celestial spheres turning around the earth; in divan poetry it is thought of as a power that turns a person's fortune and changes good into bad, and it is often scolded like a tyrant. According to Gülşen Kaya's study of the divan, Mihrî built this murabba entirely on the redif "felegüñ" and says that fate always shows her only cruelty, that it makes the rival laugh and herself weep, that it first laughs in one's face and then pierces one's breast with the sword of cruelty, and that in the end it leaves her longing for the beloved. Kaya shows that in other poems too Mihrî says that fate offers the lover not a cup of delight but "a thousand bowls of poison".

The refrain line strings together two exclamations of similar meaning: "âh elinden" (alas, at the hands of) and "dâd elinden". The word "dâd" means justice; to cry "dâd elinden" is to complain of someone's tyranny and to demand redress. In this way the complaint in each stanza closes with the same sentence, like a petition of grievance. The word "mihr" in the first stanza links love, the sun and the poet's pen name (mahlas): the poet, who says she has seen no "mihr ü vefâ" from fate, recalls her own name with the same word. This double entendre (tevriye) is only a possible reading; the plain meaning of the line is "affection and fidelity".

Antithesis is prominent throughout the poem. Fate makes us weep and makes the rival laugh (third stanza); to some it laughs in a rose-like face and then pierces the breast with a thorn (fifth stanza); to the worthy it shows cruelty, to the ignorant fidelity (seventh stanza). In the fifth stanza rose and thorn, laughing and piercing are set against one another, and "ḫâr-ı cefâ tîġı", the sword made of the thorn of cruelty, becomes a weapon through simile. The cup full of blood in the fourth stanza is the cup of happiness turned upside down. In the sixth stanza the poet addresses fate directly and threatens it with the transience of the world: "Bu cihân bâḳî degül saña da ḳalmaya felek" (this world is not lasting, may it not remain to you either, O fate). This address gives the poem the tone of an imprecation. In the seventh stanza the pen name comes inside a rhetorical question: once you have killed Mihrî, to whom will you show cruelty? The question comes close to bitter mockery, as the poet offers herself as fate's favourite victim.

The last stanza ties the poem to the theme of love. The turning of tears into blood, the lack of a remedy for pain, and longing for "sevgülü cânânlar" (dear beloveds) are familiar expressions of the pain of separation in divan poetry. The complaint against fate thus becomes a lament that puts the cause of separation from the beloved on fortune. Kaya writes that a certain "weariness" is seen at times in Mihrî, and that it reaches its furthest point in her ghazals with the redif "kâşkî"; in this murabba too, the voice of the same lament is heard together with the refrain that returns in every stanza.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, p. 169-170, Murabba‘ 5 (Ü manuscript 47b). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Academic studies

  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Divânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2010, p. 252. 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, p. 133-148 (redif tables, p. 136-137).

Books

  • Didem Havlioğlu (ed.), Ğazeliyyāt-ı Mihrī, OTAP electronic edition, 2007 (transliteration published on the türkoloji-iran site, poem 86).

Online sources