Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fâ`lâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün
Bizden olduñsa raḳîbüñ sözile bîzâr hey
Güc ile gökçeklik olmaz neyleyelüm vâr hey
Eksük olmaz bu cihândur ‘âşıḳa bir yâr hey
Ben de senden vâz geldüm vâz geldüm vâr hey
Bulınur hey bu cihânda tâze tâze ḫûblar
Nâzenînler ḫûblar u maḥbûblar u merġûblar
Rûy-ı ‘âlemde hemân ḳaṭ‘ olmadı merġûblar
Ben de senden vâz geldüm vâz geldüm vâr hey
Bî-vefâ maḥbûblara rîş-ḫande ‘âşıḳlar gerek
Ṣâdıḳu'l-ḳavl olana yâr-ı muvâfıḳlar gerek
Gerçegi terk it yüri saña münâfıḳlar gerek
Ben de senden vâz geldüm vâz geldüm vâr hey
Mıṣr-ı dilde Yûsuf-ı cândan ‘azîz itdüm seni
Cevr ile pîr eyledüñ âḫir Zelîḫâ-veş beni
Yâr idinmek yoġımış bildüm ki her cilf oġlanı
Ben de senden vâz geldüm vâz geldüm vâr hey
Yüzüñi görmege gerçi kim virürem cânı ben
Sen daḫi ḫûblarda bir ‘âşıḳ-perest idüñ iñen
Gördügüñce beni iġmâż idüp ayruḳlanma sen
Ben de senden vâz geldüm vâz geldüm vâr hey
Gerçi ‘aşḳuñ nârına düşelden itdüm ḫayli âh
Dûd-ı âhum âḫir itdi gün cemâlüñi siyâh
Sen gedâ-yı ḫûb olduñ Mihrî ‘aşḳa pâdişâh
Ben de senden vâz geldüm vâz geldüm vâr hey
In English
1. If you have grown weary of us because of the rival's words, hey; beauty cannot be had by force, what can we do, be gone, hey. This is the world; a lover never lacks a beloved, hey. I too have given you up, given you up; be gone, hey.
2. Hey, fresh and ever fresher beauties are to be found in this world: the delicate, the fair, the beloveds, those the heart desires. On the face of the earth the supply of desirable beauties has never run out. I too have given you up, given you up; be gone, hey.
3. Faithless beauties need lovers who laugh at them and pass on (mocking lovers); one whose word is true needs beloveds who suit him. Leave the truth, walk on; you need hypocrites. I too have given you up, given you up; be gone, hey.
4. In the Egypt of the heart I held you dearer than the Joseph of the soul (dearer even than Joseph, the "aziz" of Egypt); you, with your cruelty, have in the end made me old like Zulaykha. I have learned that it will not do to take every frivolous, common boy for a beloved. I too have given you up, given you up; be gone, hey.
5. Although I would give my life to see your face, you too, among the beauties, were once one who cherished his lover dearly. Do not turn a blind eye (pretend not to see me) and behave like a stranger whenever you see me. I too have given you up, given you up; be gone, hey.
6. Although I have sighed greatly ever since I fell into the fire of your love, the smoke of my sighs has in the end blackened your sun-bright face. You have become a beautiful beggar, while Mihrî is a sovereign of love. I too have given you up, given you up; be gone, hey.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The seventh murabba of the divan consists of six stanzas and is written in the remel metre of the aruz in the pattern "Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün" (in the edition the metre line is printed as "Fâ`lâtün"). In this repeating murabba, built of four-line stanzas, every stanza closes with the line "Ben de senden vâz geldüm vâz geldüm vâr hey". The four lines of the first stanza are tied by the rhyme "bîzâr, vâr, yâr, vâr" and the redif "hey". The first three lines of the later stanzas rhyme among themselves: "ḫûblar, maḥbûblar, merġûblar"; "‘âşıḳlar, muvâfıḳlar, münâfıḳlar" (with the redif "gerek"); "seni, beni, oġlanı"; "cânı ben, iñen, sen"; "âh, siyâh, pâdişâh". In Arslan's edition the poem rests only on the Istanbul University manuscript (Ü 68a); in the texts of Gemici and Havlioğlu, which take this manuscript as their base, it is poem 184. For whom it was written is not known.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The subject of the murabba is giving up the beloved. Gülşen Kaya describes this poem as a "murabba in which the poet says she has given up the beloved, and in whose couplets reproach is seen". The beloved has listened to the rival and turned away from the lover; the lover replies with reproach and declares that she has given the beloved up. The language of the poem is near to colloquial speech, in keeping with this stance. The words "hey" and "vâr" (be gone), repeated in every stanza, work like a final sentence spoken at the end of an argument. The phrase "Güc ile gökçeklik olmaz" in the first stanza, with the word "gökçek" (beautiful), recalls an older way of saying today's "you cannot force beauty". The judgement in the same stanza, "a lover never lacks a beloved in this world", is expanded in the second stanza: in the world the supply of fresh beauties never runs out.
The third stanza is built on two oppositions. Faithless beauties are suited only by "rîş-ḫande", that is, lovers who laugh at them and move on; one whose word is true needs beloveds who are true like him. The last line of the stanza turns the reproach into an open scolding: leave the truth, you need hypocrites. Between "muvâfıḳ" (suitable) and "münâfıḳ" (hypocrite) there is both a play based on similarity of sound and a contrast in meaning.
The fourth stanza carries the richest image of the poem and alludes to the story of Joseph and Zulaykha. In this story, told in the Qur'an and in Islamic literature, Joseph is sold into Egypt and Zulaykha, the wife of the "aziz" of Egypt, falls in love with him; in some tellings Zulaykha grows old and is made young again through Joseph's prayer. With the metaphor of the "Egypt of the heart", Mihrî says that she held the beloved dearer than Joseph; the word "‘azîz" can be read both as "dear, valued" and as the title "aziz" given to the ruler of Egypt. The lover then likens herself to Zulaykha: the beloved's cruelty has made her old like Zulaykha. Kaya notes that elsewhere in the divan it is told that Zulaykha was made young by Joseph's glance, while in this murabba, on the contrary, it is said that Zulaykha grew old because of Joseph. The third line of the stanza drops suddenly from the high legend to an everyday judgement: it will not do to take every "cilf oġlanı", that is every frivolous, common youth, for a beloved.
In the last stanza a congruence of images (tenasüp) is built between sigh and smoke, sun and blackness: the smoke of the lover's sigh has blackened the beloved's sun-bright face. The line that follows ties the whole claim of the poem with an antithesis: the beloved is beautiful but a beggar, while Mihrî is the sovereign of the land of love. Kaya says that in the divan the words "şah" and "padişah" are used in ghazals mostly for the beloved and sometimes for the lover, and she gives this very stanza as an example of the second use. This reversal, which makes the beloved a beggar and the lover a sovereign, turns the decision to give up from a defeat into something else.
The redif of the murabba is used once more in Mihrî's divan. According to Sıtkı Nazik's study comparing the redifs of Mihrî and Tâcîzâde Câfer Çelebi, the rhyme and redif "-âr hey" is seen in Mihrî's seventh and ninth murabbas and in one murabba of Câfer Çelebi (G.255). Nazik places the first stanza of Mihrî's ninth murabba beside the first stanza of Câfer Çelebi's murabba: both poets address a faithless beloved and use the line "Ey cefâ-ḫû yâr senden vâz geldüm vâr hey" identically. The shared redifs of these two Amasya poets, who lived in the same years, are discussed in Nazik's study as a trace of the interaction between them. Mihrî's ninth murabba, just like this poem, complains of a beloved who listened to the rival ("Müdde‘înüñ sözine uyduñ beni yâr itmedüñ"); the two murabbas treat the same theme of renunciation in the same metre and with the same "vâz geldüm vâr hey" refrain.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, p. 171-172, Murabba‘ 7 (Ü manuscript 68a). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
Academic studies
- Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî Hâtun Divânı'nın Tahlili, master's thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2010, p. 75-76, 83. 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; comparison, p. 145).
- Sabiha Gemici, Mihrî Hatun Divanı: Karşılaştırmalı Metin, Cümle Yapısı ve Cümle Türleri, doctoral thesis, Uludağ Üniversitesi, Balıkesir 1990 (poem 184).
Books
- Didem Havlioğlu (ed.), Ğazeliyyāt-ı Mihrī, OTAP electronic edition, 2007 (transliteration published on the türkoloji-iran site, poem 184).
Online sources
