Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün

Bugün bir ḥüsn şâhınuñ yüz urdum âsitânına
İrişdi ‘andelîb-i dil cemâli gülsitânına
Ṣafâlar virdi ‘uşşâḳuñ yine rûḥ-ı revânına
Getürmiş ‘anberîn ḫâlin hümâyûn zülfi yanına
Nice şehbâzdur gör kim beg iltür âşiyânına
Yüri bezm-i ḫarâbâta iñen ṭa‘n eyleme zâhid
Sen özüñi ḳayur ḫalḳuñ günâhın aġlama zâhid
Günâhı kimsenüñ senden ṣorılmaz söyleme zâhid
Şarâb-ı la‘l-i dilberden beni men‘ eyleme zâhid
Saña ne her kişi her ne iderse kendü cânına
Yüzüñ envârı şevḳinden olupdur zîneti şem‘uñ
Ki her dem nârı nûr itmek olur mâhiyyeti şem‘uñ
Dili kesilmek olmışdur anuñçün ‘âdeti şem‘uñ
Yüzüñe beñzerem dirmiş ‘acebdür ḥâleti şem‘uñ
Baş ortaya ḳoyup söyler ne kim gelse zebânına
Çü gördi nâr-ı hecrüñde beni yaḳduġuñı ey cân
Özi göyündi dâġ urdı özine lâle-i nu‘mân
Görüp aġyârı yanuñda gülerem ẓâhirâ her an
Yanaram bezm-i şevḳüñde gözüm aġlar göñül ḫandân
Hemân ol şem‘a döndüm kim güler dâ’im ziyânına
Döşenmiş bâġ-ı ḥüsnüñde ruḫuñ üzre gül evrâḳuñ
Demâġın ‘anberîn bûy-ı mu‘aṭṭar ḳıldı âfâḳuñ
Sürer yüzine gözine raḳîbüñ sâ‘id ü sâḳuñ
Alur dildârı yanına söger ardınca ‘uşşâḳuñ
Ögünsün düşmen ögünsün eger ḳalursa yanına
Leṭâfet gülsitânında begüm ḫaddüñ durur ter gül
Olupdur berg-i gül üstinde ḫâlüñ dâne-i fülfül
Ḳaçan bu yüz ḳarasıyla ṣaçuña öykünür sünbül
Gülüñ bu ‘ârıżı rengin görüp aldanma ey bülbül
Ki nice ol senüñ gibi ġarîbüñ girdi ḳanına
Görüp bu ḫûb u zîbâyı i Mihrî ṣaḳın aldanma
Olur bu ḫûbluġuñ lâ-büd zevâli yaḳın aldanma
Görürsüñ günde biñ kerre anuñ aḫlâḳın aldanma
Yüzüñe gülse birḳaç gün Necâtî ṣaḳın aldanma
Ki gerçekler inanmadı bu dünyânuñ yalanına

In English

1. Today I rubbed my face on the threshold of a shah of beauty. The nightingale of the heart has reached the rose garden of his face. Once more he has given delight to the flowing soul of lovers. His auspicious lock has brought its ambergris-scented mole to its side; see what a falcon it is, that carries the bey (the lord) to its nest. (The lock of hair is likened to a falcon that carries its prey to its nest. "Hümâyûn" means both auspicious and belonging to the huma bird. The couplet can be read in two ways: the word "beg" can be understood as "bey", a title given to the mole that the lock takes to its side, or as "beñ", written identically in the old script, that is, the mole on the face.)

2. Go, ascetic (zâhid), do not so greatly condemn the assembly of the tavern. Burn for your own affliction, do not weep over other people's sins. No one's sin will be asked of you; do not speak. O ascetic, do not forbid me the wine of the beloved's ruby lip. What is it to you whatever each person does to his own soul.

3. The candle's adornment has come from its longing for the lights of your face; for its nature is at every moment to turn fire into light. That is why it has become the candle's habit to have its tongue cut. The candle said, "I resemble your face"; the candle's state is strange: it puts its head in the middle and says whatever comes to its tongue. (The candle's "tongue" is its flame, and its wick is cut and trimmed. Because the candle presumed to liken itself to the beloved's face, its tongue is thought of as cut; and because its flame burns on its head, it speaks "putting its head in the middle", that is, risking its life.)

4. When it saw you burning me in the fire of separation, O soul, the poppy burned within and branded its own breast. Seeing the rivals beside you, I laugh outwardly at every moment; I burn in the assembly of longing for you, my eye weeps and my heart laughs. I have become that very candle which always laughs at its own loss. (The black spot at the centre of the poppy is likened to the "brand" the lover imprints on his breast. As the candle melts it gives off light, so it seems to "laugh" at its own destruction.)

5. In the garden of your beauty rose petals are spread over your cheek; that ambergris scent has perfumed the nostrils of the horizons, every corner of the world. The rival rubs your arm and leg against his face and eyes; he takes the beloved to his side and curses the lovers behind their backs. Let the enemy boast, let him boast, if he can stay beside you (for as long as he can).

6. My lord, in the rose garden of delicacy your cheek is a fresh rose; the mole on the rose petal has become a grain of black pepper. When the hyacinth, with this black face of its own, tries to imitate your hair and resemble it, O nightingale, do not be deceived on seeing the colour of this rose's cheek; for it has been the death of many a stranger like you. ("Yüz karası", black face, describes both the dark colour of the hyacinth and shameful conduct. The hyacinth is likened to hair because of its curling shape and dark colour.)

7. O Mihrî, on seeing this beauty, this adorned one, do not be deceived. This beauty will soon come to an end, do not be deceived. You will see his character a thousand times a day, do not be deceived. O Necâtî, though he laughs in your face for a few days, do not be deceived; for the truthful have never believed in the lie of this world.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The only tahmis in the divan consists of seven stanzas of five lines each and is written in the hezec metre in the pattern "Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün". A tahmis is a stanzaic poem built by adding three lines, in the same metre and in unity of sense, before each couplet of a ghazal. In this poem the first three lines of every stanza are Mihrî's, and the last two lines are a couplet taken from a ghazal of Necâtî. In the first stanza all five lines rhyme on the sound "-ânına"; in the later stanzas Mihrî's three lines follow the same rhyme as the first line of Necâtî's couplet ("zâhid", "şem‘uñ", "ḫandân", "‘uşşâḳuñ", "sünbül", "aldanma"), while the last line returns to the shared rhyme of the ghazal (cânına, zebânına, ziyânına, yanına, ḳanına, yalanına). The poem is found only in the Ü manuscript (61a). Although the introduction to Arslan's edition counts the tahmis as "5 stanzas, 17 couplets", the text in the edition has seven stanzas and thirty-five lines.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first two stanzas of the tahmis set out the main line of the ghazal: the lover who rubs her face on the threshold of the shah of beauty, and the ascetic who condemns her. The second stanza is the familiar criticism of the ascetic in divan poetry; Gülşen Kaya gives this stanza among the examples that show the ascetic stuck on the outer shell of everything and unable to open the doors of the heart. In the lines Mihrî adds, the word "günâh" (sin) is worked three times from different sides: the ascetic should not weep over other people's sins, no one's sin will be asked of him; and the last line ties this thought together with "every person, whatever he does, does it to his own soul".

The third and fourth stanzas are built on the conceit of the candle. With its nature of turning fire into light, the candle aspires to the beloved's face; as the penalty for the audacity of likening itself to that face, its "tongue", that is its wick, is cut. The words "zebân" (tongue), "baş ortaya ḳoymaḳ" (to put one's head in the middle) and "dili kesilmek" (to have one's tongue cut) turn the candle's physical state into human behaviour; this is an example of personification (teşhis). In the fourth stanza the lover likens herself to the same candle: when she sees the rivals beside the beloved she laughs outwardly and burns inwardly. The opposition of weeping and laughing in the line "Gözüm aġlar göñül ḫandân" is antithesis (tezat); the poppy image (lâle-i nu‘mân) of this stanza sets up a simile between the "brand" on the breast of the lover who burns inwardly and the black spot at the centre of the flower.

In the sixth stanza the rose, the black pepper, the hyacinth and the nightingale form a garden scene. Kaya notes that the word "fülfül", meaning black pepper, occurs in the divan only in this tahmis, where, likened to the beloved's mole, it is mentioned for its smallness and colour. In the last stanza the theme opens out onto the transience of the world: in three lines beginning with her own pen name, Mihrî repeats the warning "do not be deceived" three times, and then comes Necâtî's couplet with his own pen name. The names of the two poets thus meet in the same stanza, at the two ends of the same counsel. Mihrî's emphasis on the transience of beauty with the words "zevâl" (decline) and "aḫlâḳ" (character) prepares for Necâtî's phrase "the lie of the world".

Historical Context

The ghazal on which the tahmis is made is ghazal 522 in Ali Nihat Tarlan's edition of the divan of Necâtî Bey; the opening couplet of this seven-couplet ghazal with the redif "-ına" reads in Tarlan's text: "Getürmiş hâl-i müşgînin hümâyûn zülfi yanına / Ne hoş şeh-bâzdur gör kim beg ilter âşiyânına". According to İlyas Kayaokay's study of the tahmis written on Necâtî's ghazals, this ghazal is one of the most frequently expanded of Necâtî's ghazals, and Remzî, Fehmî, Nefîsî and Mihrî Hatun wrote tahmis on it. Kayaokay establishes that Mihrî expanded all the couplets of the ghazal in the order first, second, third, fifth, sixth, fourth and seventh couplet, and that Fehmî and Nefîsî kept the same order. In Mihrî's text the last lines of the first stanza read "‘anberîn ḫâl" instead of "hâl-i müşgîn" and "Nice" instead of "Ne hoş", and in the fourth stanza "Yanaram bezm-i şevḳüñde" instead of "eridim nâr-ı şevkinden"; Kayaokay says that these differences in wording are found identically in Nefîsî's tahmis as well. Mihrî's tahmis, together with Fehmî's, is also recorded in a poetry anthology numbered 06 Hk 436 in the National Library.

Taking into account that Mihrî lived before all three poets, Kayaokay is of the opinion that the tahmis of Remzî, Fehmî and Nefîsî were written as naziras to Mihrî's tahmis, and he thinks that the first poet to write a tahmis on a ghazal of Necâtî was Mihrî Hatun. If this finding is right, this tahmis, written by a woman poet who was his contemporary on a poem of Necâtî, also became a model for poets of later generations. Mihrî's connection with Necâtî is known from other places in the divan as well. According to Gülşen Kaya, Mihrî mentions Necâtî in three places in her divan: in ghazal 46, in ghazal 160, and in this tahmis. In the closing couplet of ghazal 160 she says "Mihrî Necâtî şi‘rine dirsin naẓîre lîk / Sen bir gedâ vü müflis o bir pâdişâh ile" (Mihrî, you may call it a nazire to Necâtî's poem, but you are a beggar and a pauper, he is a sovereign), modestly belittling her own poem next to Necâtî's. The tezkires relate that Necâtî wrote his quatrain "Ey benüm şi‘rüme naẓîre diyen" about Mihrî; Enes İlhan, however, questions this story by finding that in one manuscript of Necâtî's divan this quatrain is recorded under the heading "der-hakk-ı Revânî". The coming together of the two pen names in the seventh stanza of the tahmis is one of the most concrete traces in the divan of this disputed relationship.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Mehmet Arslan (ed.), Mihrî Hâtun Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları (Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 576), 2018, p. 175-176, Tahmîs (Ü 61a); introduction p. 11. https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/58679,mihri-hatun-divanipdf.pdf
  • Ali Nihat Tarlan (ed.), Necatî Beg Divanı, Ankara: Akçağ, 1992, p. 382-383, G.522 (as reported by Kayaokay; not seen).

Academic studies

Online sources