Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ḥüsnüñüñ üstindeki ol mâh ḥaḳḳıçün begüm
Cân u dilden bendeñem ben şâh ḥaḳḳıçün begüm
Her seḥer-gâh itdügüm bu âh ḥaḳḳıçün begüm
Ṣâdıḳam yoluñda ben Allâh ḥaḳḳıçün begüm
Ḳıble yüzüñden ölince yüzimi döndürmezem
Virseler bir ḳıluña iki cihânı virmezem
Gerçi aylar yıllar oldı ben yüzüñi görmezem
Ṣâdıḳam yoluñda ben Allâh ḥaḳḳıçün begüm
Eyledüm seni sevelden ġayrılardan dil berî
Dimedüñ bir gün ki hey bî-çâre miskîn gel berî
Günde biñ kez ġamzeñ ursa yüregüme ḫançeri
Ṣâdıḳam yoluñda ben Allâh ḥaḳḳıçün begüm
Döndürürsem yüz yüzüñden ḳıbleden dönsün yüzüm
Senden ayruġa naẓar ḳılsa dirüm çıḳsun gözüm
Seni sevelden behey kâfir saña budur sözüm
Ṣâdıḳam yoluñda ben Allâh ḥaḳḳıçün begüm
Ey beni Mecnûn gibi ‘aşḳı ile şeydâ ḳılan
Ben seni sevmekde gerçek ‘âşıḳam ṣanma yalan
A benim çoḳ sevdügüm vallâhi billâhi inan
Ṣâdıḳam yoluñda ben Allâh ḥaḳḳıçün begüm
Ġamzeñüñ peykânı sînemde nihândur dostum
Ḥâlümüz ḫod gün gibi saña ‘ayândur dostum
Yoluña cân virürem bunca zamândur dostum
Ṣâdıḳam yoluñda ben Allâh ḥaḳḳıçün begüm
Râżıyam cânâ gerek aġlat gerek güldür beni
Dönmezem senden gerek dirgür gerek öldür beni
Mihrî'yem ‘aşḳuñda daḫi nice yıl yeldür beni
Ṣâdıḳam yoluñda ben Allâh ḥaḳḳıçün begüm

In English

1. By that moon above your beauty (your face and brow, shining like the moon), my lord; I am your servant from soul and heart, by that shah (yourself), my lord; by this sigh I utter every dawn, my lord: by God, my lord, I am true to you on your path.

2. I will not turn my face from your face, my qibla, until I die; if they gave me the two worlds I would not give up a single hair of yours. Although months and years have passed, I do not see your face. By God, my lord, I am true to you on your path.

3. Since I fell in love with you I have kept my heart far from all others; yet you never once said, "Hey, helpless, wretched one, come here." Even if your glance strikes a dagger into my heart a thousand times a day, by God, my lord, I am true to you on your path.

4. If I turn my face from your face, may my face turn from the qibla (may I turn from my faith); if my eye looks at anyone but you, I say, "let my eye be torn out." Since I fell in love with you, O infidel (O pitiless beloved), this is my word to you: by God, my lord, I am true to you on your path.

5. O you who have driven me mad with love, like Majnun, I am a true lover in loving you; do not think it a lie. O you whom I love so much, believe me, by God, by God: by God, my lord, I am true to you on your path.

6. The arrowhead of your glance is hidden in my breast, my friend; my state is clear to you as the day, my friend. For so long now I have been giving my life on your path, my friend. By God, my lord, I am true to you on your path.

7. I consent, my beloved: make me weep or make me laugh; I will not turn from you: bring me to life or kill me. I am Mihrî; drive me on for many more years in your love. By God, my lord, I am true to you on your path.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The sixth murabba of the divan consists of seven stanzas and is written in the remel metre of the aruz in the pattern "Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün". In this repeating murabba, built of four-line stanzas, every stanza closes with the line "Ṣâdıḳam yoluñda ben Allâh ḥaḳḳıçün begüm". In the first stanza all four lines end with the redif "ḥaḳḳıçün begüm", and the rhyme is formed by the words "mâh, şâh, âh, Allâh". The first three lines of the later stanzas rhyme among themselves: "döndürmezem, virmezem, görmezem"; "berî, beri, ḫançeri"; "yüzüm, gözüm, sözüm"; "ḳılan, yalan, inan". "Dostum" in the sixth stanza and "beni" in the seventh are added as redif. In Arslan's edition the poem rests on the M (83a) and Ü (52b) manuscripts; in the texts of Gemici and Havlioğlu, which take the Ü manuscript as their base, it is poem 110. For whom it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The subject of the murabba is a vow of fidelity. The poet reinforces her devotion to the beloved with oaths, and the poem proceeds from beginning to end in the manner of the taking of an oath. The first stanza strings four oaths together: the moon on the beloved's face, the shah who is the beloved herself, the sigh the poet utters at dawn, and finally God. The object of the oath changes in every line, but the phrase "ḥaḳḳıçün begüm" is repeated and continues like a prayer. The phrase "vallâhi billâhi inan" (believe me, by God, by God) in the fifth stanza is taken from everyday speech and makes the voice of a lover trying to convince the beloved heard directly. The sincere and simple language that, according to Gülşen Kaya, caught the attention of the tezkire writers is plainly visible in this stanza.

The main image of the poem is the qibla. In the second stanza the beloved's face is called the "qibla-face"; the lover will not turn her face from this qibla until she dies. The fourth stanza turns the same image into an oath: if she turns from the beloved's face, may her face turn from the qibla, that is, may she leave her religion. In divan poetry, likening the beloved's face or brow to the qibla or the mihrab is a common conceit; here this comparison becomes a condition of a covenant. The address "behey kâfir" (O infidel) in the same stanza also comes from the tradition of divan poetry: the beloved who has no pity on the lover and robs him of his faith is called an "infidel". Between qibla and infidel a congruence of images (tenasüp) and a contrast are thus set up at once.

In the third stanza a pun draws the eye. The phrase "dil berî" in the first line means "heart far from (others), pure"; "gel beri" in the second line means "come this way". The same sound is used with two different meanings in consecutive lines. In its pronunciation these two words also recall the word "dil-ber" (beloved, heart-taker). In the sixth stanza hidden (nihân) and manifest (‘ayân) are set against one another: the arrow of the beloved's glance is hidden in the lover's breast, but the lover's state is plain as day. In Havlioğlu's text the first line of this stanza is read "‘ayândur" as well; in Arslan's edition it is "nihândur", and the contrast is completed only with this reading. In the last stanza antitheses follow one another: making weep and making laugh, bringing to life and killing. The lover consents to both; this surrender is the final explanation of the word "true" that the poem has been repeating from the beginning.

Gülşen Kaya notes that the words "year" and "month" in the divan are mostly used to express the length of the time spent apart from the beloved, and she gives the second stanza of this murabba as an example: "Gerçi aylar yıllar oldı ben yüzüñi görmezem" (Although months and years have passed, I do not see your face). The poet's fidelity continues even though she has not seen the beloved's face for a long time. Addressing the beloved as "begüm" (my lord) is seen in Mihrî's other ghazals as well. In her thesis on the sentence structure of the divan, Sabiha Gemici gives the sentences "Cân u dilden bendeñem" and "Râżıyam" from this murabba as examples of nominal sentences whose predicate is formed with the first-person singular suffix. The voice of the poem is also determined by this structure: a speaker who defines herself as "bendeñem, ṣâdıḳam, ‘âşıḳam, râżıyam" (I am your servant, I am true, I am a lover, I consent) says the same devotion anew 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. 170-171, Murabba‘ 6 (M 83a, Ü 52b). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Academic studies

  • Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Divânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2010, p. II, 264. openaccess.firat.edu.tr
  • Sabiha Gemici, Mihrî Hatun Divanı: Karşılaştırmalı Metin, Cümle Yapısı ve Cümle Türleri, doctoral thesis, Uludağ Üniversitesi, Balıkesir 1990 (poem 110).
  • 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 110).

Online sources