Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Her maḳām-ı dil-küşā kim seyr-i cānān andadur
Göñlüme seyrān-geh oldur menzil-i cān andadur
Tīr-i ġamzeñ çoḳdan urdı baġruma zaḫmı velī
Hīc oñulmaz yarası beñzer ki peykān andadur
Em didiler ḫaste cān içün leb-i şīrīnüñi
Var ise bī-çārenüñ derdine dermān andadur
El ṣunarsın būs-ı la‘line ḫayāl ile göñül
Key ṣaḳın kim ġamze-i düzd-i nigeh-bān andadur
Ḫāne-i dil rūşen olsa ṭañ mıdur şöyle Münīr
Ṣubḥ olunca her şeb ol şem‘-i şebistān andadur

In English

1. Every heart-delighting place where the beloved takes his stroll is a promenade for my heart; the lodging of the soul is there.

2. The arrow of your glance long ago struck a wound in my breast; yet its wound never heals; it seems the arrowhead is (still) in it.

3. They called your sweet lip the medicine for the sick soul; if there is a cure for the helpless one's pain, it is in that.

4. O heart, by way of fancy you stretch out your hand to kiss his ruby lip; beware, take care: the thieving glance that is its guard is there.

5. Münîr, is it any wonder if the house of the heart is so bright? Every night, until morning comes, that candle of the night chamber is in it.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the hundred-and-third of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 103). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". Ersoy's list of refrains gives the ghazal the refrain (redif) "andadur" (is in it, is there); the rhyme is the "-ān" sound before it: cānān, cān, peykān, dermān, nigeh-bān and şebistān. In the opening couplet (matla) there is a likeness of sound between "cānān" (beloved) and "cān" (soul). The ghazal is found in two manuscripts of the divan (VT 121b, Ü 35b); it is not in the VY manuscript. No variant readings are given in the apparatus. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The refrain "andadur" (is in it, is there) marks in each couplet the place where something is found: the lodging of the soul, the head of the arrow, the cure for pain, the guarding glance and the candle of the night. Through this repetition the ghazal becomes a poem of place and possession.

In the opening couplet there is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among the words "maḳām" (place, station), "seyr" (stroll), "seyrān-geh" (promenade) and "menzil" (lodging). Every place where the beloved strolls becomes a promenade for the lover's heart too, for the soul lodges where the beloved is. The repetition of the word between "seyr" and "seyrān" is our own observation.

The second couplet rests on an observation often found in divan poetry: a wound in which an arrowhead remains does not heal. The arrow of the glance was shot long ago, but its head has remained inside the wound. This is used as an explanation of why the pain of love does not pass with time. In the third couplet the beloved's lip is called "em" (medicine); the healing power of the lip is tied to the theme of the beloved's life-giving lip.

The fourth couplet sets up a scene of theft and contains a contradiction. The heart reaches by way of fancy to kiss the beloved's lip; but the glance that guards the lip is there. In divan poetry the glance is known as a thief that steals hearts; here the same glance is the guard of the lip. Bringing together the words "düzd" (thief) and "nigeh-bān" (guard) in the same phrase creates this contradiction. The "nigeh" (look) contained in the word "nigeh-bān" also accords with the glance; this is our own observation.

The pen-name couplet closes with an image of light. The house of the heart is bright every night, for the beloved's image burns there until morning like the candle of the night chamber. Between "cān" (soul) in the opening couplet and "şem‘" (candle) in the last, the idea that the beloved's presence gives life and light to the heart binds the beginning and the end of the ghazal together.

Bibliography

Online sources