Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün

Zülf-i dil-berden kesül didügi dil beni ṣınar
Yoḫsa kendü cānına kişi ḳaçan yavuz ṣanar
Nāvek-i dil-dūzuñ ucından ciger ḳan oldısa
Ġarḳ-ı ḫūn olmış yaturken dil beni niçün ḳınar
Dilde peykān-ı ḫadengüñ var iken āh itmezem
Bilürem k’āyīne-i cāndur nefesden ḫod ṭonar
Mülk-i dil şöyle ḫarāb olduġı ey çābük-süvār
Göçmeden ġam leşkerinüñ birisi biri ḳonar
Gözümi bu ḳanlu kirpüklerle gören dir Münīr
Bir neyistān içre od düşmīşdür ṣan kim yanar

In English

1. The heart's saying "give up (cut yourself off from) the beloved's lock" is meant to test me; otherwise, when does a man ever think ill of his own life?

2. If the liver has turned to blood from the point of your heart-piercing arrow, why does the heart reproach me while (it) lies drowned in blood (itself)?

3. While the head of your arrow is in my heart I do not sigh; I know that (the heart) is the mirror of the soul, and it clouds over (freezes) from breath anyway.

4. O nimble horseman, the realm of the heart has become so ruined that before one of the army of sorrow has moved off, another comes and pitches camp.

5. Münîr, whoever sees my eye with these bloody lashes says: "Fire has fallen into a reed bed; it seems to be burning."

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the hundred-and-first of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 101). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". Ersoy's list of refrains places the ghazal among those with the refrain (redif) "-Er"; the rhyme is the sound sequence "-nar": ṣınar, ṣanar, ḳınar, ṭonar, ḳonar and yanar. The ghazal is found in two manuscripts of the divan (VT 121a, Ü 26a); it is not in the VY manuscript. According to the apparatus Ü reads "derd-i" for "zülf-i" in the first couplet and gives the second couplet in third place; VT reads "nefes" for "nefesden" in the third couplet. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first two couplets of the ghazal are a dispute between the lover and his heart. In the opening couplet (matla) the heart advises the lover to give up the beloved's lock. The lover does not take this advice seriously; in his view the heart is only testing him, for no one wishes ill to his own life. The lock is here put in place of the lover's life. A link may be drawn between the verb "kesül" (cut yourself off, part) and the lock; it also evokes the cutting of hair. This is our own inference. The expression "yavuz ṣanmak" appears here, as the context requires, to mean "to think ill".

In the second couplet the heart is like a judge reproaching the lover; yet it is itself wounded by the arrow and lies in blood. The liver turning to blood and the heart drowning in blood are two faces of the same wound. The closeness of sound among the rhymes "ṣınar", "ṣanar" and "ḳınar" gives this dispute a harmony.

The third couplet rests on the theme of the mirror. The surface of a mirror made of metal or glass clouds over with breath. The heart is the mirror of the soul; if the lover sighs, he will cloud the face of this mirror with his breath. That is why he does not sigh even while the arrowhead remains in his heart. The word "ṭonar" describes clouding over and growing dull.

In the fourth couplet the heart is a ruined realm. Before one of the armies of sorrow has moved off, another comes and pitches camp; the land is not empty for a moment. The verbs "göç-" (move off) and "ḳon-" (encamp) describe the moving and halting of an army; the beloved, addressed as "çābük-süvār" (nimble horseman), is like the commander of this army.

The pen-name couplet closes with a strong visual image. The eye ringed with bloody lashes is likened to a reed bed into which fire has fallen. The thinness and density of the lashes recall the reeds of the bed, and the redness of the blood recalls fire. The basis of the simile is our own inference.

Bibliography

Online sources