Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün

Cān virmek ile ‘īd-i viṣāle ki yol ola
Ḳurbān-ı vaṣl olan kişi niçün melūl ola
Bār-ı girān hemān reh-i ‘ışḳ içre bu yiter
Ey dil laḳab ki bize ẓalūmen cehūl ola
Bilsem ki maṣrafına niçün sarf olunmaya
Ser-māye bir kişiye ki ‘ömr-i ‘acūl ola
Ḳanlu yaşuñı āb-ı revān eyle dem-be-dem
Şāyed ki bezm-i vaṣla anuñla vüṣūl ola
Va‘ẓ u naṣīḥat aña bu sözler yiter Münīr
Kimde ki gūş-ı cān ile sem‘-i ḳabūl ola

In English

1. If giving one's life is to be a road to the feast of union, why should one who is sacrificed for union be sorrowful?

2. O heart, as the heavy burden on the road of love, it is enough for us to be given the title "most unjust, most ignorant" (ẓalūmen cehūlā).

3. If only I knew why the capital (life) of a man whose life hastens away should not be spent where it ought to be spent.

4. Make your bloody tears into running water every moment; perhaps by them one may reach the banquet of union.

5. O Münîr, for one who listens with the ear of the soul and accepts, these words are enough as counsel and advice.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the tenth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 10). The metre is "mef‘ûlü fâ‘ilâtü mefâ‘îlü fâ‘ilün". The refrain (redif) is "ola"; in the list of refrains in Ersoy's introduction tg 10 is cited with this refrain. The rhyme is the sound "-ūl": melūl, cehūl, ‘acūl, vüṣūl, ḳabūl; in the first line of the opening couplet the word "yol" joins this rhyme by similarity of sound. When describing the kinds of rhyme, Ersoy counts tg 10 among the examples of kafiye-i müreddefe, rhyme in which a long vowel precedes the rhyme letter. The poem is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 101a). To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal joins the language of a love poem with the language of counsel. In the opening couplet (matla) the words "‘īd" (feast) and "ḳurbān" (sacrifice) form a congruence of images (tenasüp): union is a feast, and the lover who reaches this feast by giving his life is like a sacrificial offering. Two notions of the Feast of Sacrifice are carried here into the language of love; this link is our own observation. The thought that one who is sacrificed should not grieve counts death as an occasion for joy.

The phrase "ẓalūmen cehūlā" in the second couplet occurs in the Qur'an in the verse of the Trust (al-Aḥzāb 33:72): man took on the Trust that the heavens, the earth and the mountains shrank from bearing, and the verse describes man as "most unjust, most ignorant". The "bār-ı girān" (heavy burden) of the couplet recalls this Trust. On the road of love the poet accepts this title for himself and his kind as both a burden and a portion. This link with the verse is our own observation; the couplet is an example of quotation from scripture (iktibas).

In the third couplet life is likened to capital; the word "‘acūl" in its dictionary sense means hasty, quickly passing. Since life passes so quickly, it must be spent where it ought to be, that is, on love. Though the couplet is built as a question, it holds its own answer; the words "ser-māye" (capital) and "maṣraf" (expenditure) come from the language of trade and make life seem like a merchant's capital. In the fourth couplet bloody tears turn into running water; the word "vüṣūl" (arriving, reaching) brings to mind at once the water's reaching a place and the lover's attaining the beloved.

In the pen-name couplet the poet defines the whole ghazal as counsel. The phrases "gūş-ı cān" (the ear of the soul) and "sem‘-i ḳabūl" (the hearing of acceptance) say that what is said must be heard and embraced with the heart. This advising close of the ghazal is an example of the sententious manner that Münîrî adopts at times in his poetry.

Bibliography

Online sources