Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Gözüme baṣsa ḳadem luṭf ile ḫayāl-i nigār
Revān gözüm dür ü la‘l ider ayaġına nis̱ār
Nesīm-i ṣubḥ-dem irüp gelür dilā ṣaçına
‘Aceb mi nükhetine reşk iderse müşk-i Tatār
Ḳad-i bülendüñi añdı meger ki bād-ı ṣabā
Ki girdi raḳṣ u semā‘a çemende serv ü çenār
Yüzüñ ‘araḳlarına beñzedür revān göñlüm
Seḥerde jāleler itdükçe berg-i gülde ḳarār
Müyesser ola mı yā Rab Münīr-i teşne-dile
Şarāb u sebze vü āb u revān u rūy-ı nigār

In English

1. If the image of the beloved should kindly set foot upon my eye, my eye at once (with flowing tears) scatters pearls and rubies at its feet. (The pearls are clear tears, the rubies bloody tears.)

2. O heart, the morning breeze reaches and comes to his hair; is it any wonder if the musk of the Tatars envies its fragrance?

3. Perhaps the morning breeze mentioned your tall stature, so that the cypress and the plane tree in the meadow began to dance and to whirl in samâ.

4. When at dawn the dewdrops settle on the rose petal, my flowing heart likens them to the beads of sweat on your face.

5. O Lord, will it be granted to Münîr, whose heart is thirsty: wine and greenery, water and the flowing stream, and the face of the beloved? ("Āb u revān" can also be understood as flowing water.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the hundred and fourteenth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 114). The metre is "mefā‘ilün fe‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fe‘ilün". The ghazal has no refrain (redif) and does not appear in Ersoy's list of refrains; the rhyme is the "-ār" sound: nigār, nis̱ār, Tatār, çenār, ḳarār and nigār again. The first line of the opening couplet and the last line of the pen-name couplet both end with the same word "nigār"; this repetition of the rhyme is our own observation. The ghazal is found in all three manuscripts of the divan (VT 124a, VY 105a, Ü 36a); the apparatus records no variant readings. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal takes place in a garden at dawn. The hour of dawn, the morning breeze, the dewdrops, the cypress, the plane tree and the rose form a picture spread across all the couplets. In the opening couplet (matla) the beloved's image sets foot upon the lover's eye; as in the Turkish expression "başım gözüm üstüne" (on my head and my eye, that is, gladly), the eye here is a place of welcome. Scattering money and jewels where a guest sets foot is a custom of welcome; the eye likewise scatters pearls and rubies at the feet of the image. That pearl and ruby stand for clear and bloody tears is a settled comparison in divan poetry.

In the second couplet the morning breeze calls at the beloved's hair and carries its scent. The musk of the Tatars is reckoned the finest musk in divan poetry; even it feels jealous of the scent of the hair. The third couplet is an example of hüsn-i talil (poetic aetiology): the cypress and the plane tree sway in the wind, and the poet finds a cause for this swaying. The morning breeze has mentioned the beloved's stature, and the trees, stirred by this mention, have begun to dance and whirl. The phrase "raḳṣ u semā‘" (dance and samâ) evokes the music of the dervish lodge and the gathering.

In the fourth couplet the dewdrops on the rose petal are likened to the beads of sweat on the beloved's face. The one who makes the comparison is the "revān", that is, the flowing heart. The word "revān" occurs three times in the ghazal: in the first couplet meaning "at once", in the fourth meaning "flowing away", and in the fifth meaning a flowing stream. This repetition of the word and its change of meaning are our own observation.

The pen-name couplet is a wish. The poet with a thirsty heart asks for wine, greenery, water, a flowing stream and the beloved's face. This list recalls old sayings that name water, greenery and a beautiful face together; this link is our own inference. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among "teşne-dil" (thirsty-hearted), "şarāb" (wine) and "āb" (water). In this last couplet the garden picture of the ghazal turns into a list of wishes.

Bibliography

Online sources