Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilâtün Fâilün

Ḳaşlarıñ miḥrâb ka‘bem ḳıble-gâh olmuş baña
Ḥüsn-i ruḥsârıñ maḳām-ı secde-gâh olmuş baña
Öyle müştâḳ eylemişdir ol cemâliñ kim beni
Ḳalmışım ḥayretde ‘aşḳıñ ‘azm-i râh olmuş baña
Gelmemişdir sen gibi bir ḳadd-i bâlâ ‘âleme
Ḳâmetiñ ṭavr-ı tecellî cilve-gâh olmuş bana
“Aḥsen-i taḳvîm” yazılmış levḥa-i pîşâ-nigâh
“Ve’ż-żuḥâ ve’ş-Şems” rûyıñ bedr-i mâh olmuş baña
Ol ne devletdir benim-çün ey melek-simâ melek
Sen gibi bir şâh-ı a‘ẓam pâdişâh olmuş baña
Ḳalb maḫzûndur ḳuluñ Mir’at-nümâyı ‘afv ḳıl
Yoḳ saña lâyıḳ işim ‘âdet günâh olmuş baña

In English

1. Your eyebrows have become my mihrab, my Kaaba and my direction of prayer; the beauty of your cheek has become my place of prostration.

2. That beauty of yours has made me so full of longing that I am left in wonder; your love has become my resolve to set out on the road.

3. No one of such lofty stature as you has come into the world; your stature has become for me the stage on which the manner of manifestation is displayed.

4. On the tablet of your forehead is written “Aḥsen-i taḳvîm” (the finest form); with “Ve'ż-żuḥâ” and “Ve'ş-Şems” your face has become my full moon.

5. O angel-faced angel, what fortune it is for me that a king like you, the greatest sovereign, has become my master.

6. The heart is sorrowful; forgive your servant Mir'ât-nümâ. I have no deed worthy of you; sin has become my habit.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Na't in the Language of the Ghazal

In form and imagery these six couplets cannot be told apart from a love ghazal, yet they are a na't. The refrain is “olmuş baña”, has become for me, the rhyme turns on the words “ḳıble-gâh, secde-gâh, râh, cilve-gâh, mâh, pâdişâh, günâh”, and the metre is the four-foot remel. The beloved's eyebrow, cheek, stature and face are praised in turn, but each feature is tied to an element of worship: the eyebrow becomes the mihrab and the direction of prayer, the cheek the place of prostration, the stature the stage of manifestation.

The first couplet uses one of the most common comparisons of divan poetry, the likening of the eyebrow to a mihrab; when the poet directs it to the Prophet the motif gains a real devotional meaning. In the fourth couplet the forehead is imagined as a tablet on which “aḥsen-i taḳvîm”, the finest form of the chapter of the Fig, is written; the face turns into a full moon through the oaths of the chapters of the Morning and the Sun. It is one of the thesis's examples of Qur'anic quotation.

The fifth couplet addresses the Prophet with the repetition “melek-simâ melek”, angel-faced angel, and counts it a great fortune that he has become the poet's master. In the last couplet the poet confesses his sin, as in many of the book's na'ts; this time the phrase “sin has become my habit” speaks of a settled custom.

Bibliography

Online sources