Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün

Baḥrī-i merdümeki dīde kim āb ile geçer
Ġam degül k’anuñ işi dürr-i ḫoş-āb ile geçer
Bilmezem n’eylerüz ola ki ḫayāl-i ḫad-i yār
Vaḳthā seyr-i dile şöyle niḳāb ile geçer
‘Işḳum artar ne ḳadar pīr-i ża‘īf oldumsa
Gerçi dirlerdi hevā ‘ahd-i şebāb ile geçer
Kūyuñ itine fiġānum ‘aḳabince irer eşk
Bilür anı ki baş aġrısı gül-āb ile geçer
Görüp ey serv-i revān geçdügüñi didi Münīr
Veh ki bu ‘ömr-i girān-māye şitāb ile geçer

In English

1. The eye, that little sailor of the pupil, lives by water; there is no need to grieve over this, for its business goes on with lustrous pearls. ("Ḫoş-āb", literally "of fine water", means a lustrous pearl; the pearls are tears. "Geçmek" means both to make a living and for a business to go on.)

2. I do not know what we shall do; perhaps the image of the beloved's cheek passes now and then through the promenade of the heart with a veil like this. (The image appears in the heart, but its face is covered.)

3. The weaker and older I become, the more my love grows; yet they used to say that passion (heva) passes with the age of youth. (The Ü manuscript reads "‘ömr-i şebāb", the life of youth, for "‘ahd-i şebāb".)

4. After my wailing, my tears reach the dog of your street; for they know that a headache passes with rosewater. (The wailing gives the dog a headache, and the bloody tears that follow soothe it like rosewater.)

5. O swaying cypress, seeing you pass, Münîr said: alas, how swiftly this precious life passes.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the hundred and ninth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 109). The metre is "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün". Ersoy's list of refrains gives this ghazal the refrain (redif) "ile geçer" (passes with); the rhyme is the "-āb" sound before it: āb, ḫoş-āb, niḳāb, şebāb, gül-āb and şitāb. The ghazal is found in all three manuscripts of the divan (VT 123a, VY 103b, Ü 28a). According to the apparatus, Ü reads "‘ömr-i" for "‘ahd-i" in the third couplet. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The whole weight of the ghazal lies on the verb "geçer" in the refrain. In each couplet the verb is used in a different sense: in the opening couplet (matla) to make a living and for a business to go on, in the second couplet to pass through a place, in the third for a state to come to an end, in the fourth for a pain to subside, and in the pen-name couplet both for the beloved to pass by and for life to pass away. This variety of meanings is the chief art of the ghazal; the separation of the senses of "geçmek" couplet by couplet is our own observation.

In the opening couplet the eye is a sailor; "baḥrī-i merdümek" (the little-person sailor) describes the pupil. A sailor lives by water, and the eye too lives by tears. But this water brings pearls: "dürr-i ḫoş-āb" is a lustrous pearl and the familiar equivalent of tears in divan poetry. There is a closeness of sound and sense between "āb" (water) and "ḫoş-āb".

The third couplet reverses the relation between old age and love. It is a common view that passion passes with youth; the poet says, however, that his love grows as he ages. There is a contrast between "pīr-i ża‘īf" (weak old man) and "‘ahd-i şebāb" (the age of youth).

The fourth couplet is the liveliest scene in the ghazal. The lover's wailing disturbs the dog in the beloved's street; the tears that follow hurry after it because they know that a headache passes with rosewater. The couplet rests on the idea that rosewater is good for headaches; we could not confirm this belief from a source. We take it that a likeness is drawn between the colour of bloody tears and rosewater; this is an inference.

In the pen-name couplet "serv-i revān" (the walking cypress) is the beloved's stature; "revān" means both walking and flowing away. The beloved's passing reminds the poet of the passing of life; there is also a contrast of weight and speed between "girān-māye" (precious, weighty) and "şitāb" (haste).

Bibliography

Online sources