Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Yārı göñlekçek ḳuçan pīrāhenidür dāyimā
Geñ yaḳadan niye ṭaralur ‘aceb bilsem ḳabā
Ḳāmetüñe serv diyüp ṭoġru söyledügiçün
Māhı ṭoḳuz pāre şārdan sürdi çarḫ-ı bī-vefā
Rūy-ı yāra ḳarşu n’ola ẓāhir olursa yaşum
Gündüzin gāhī görürüz necm-i tābende dilā
Dil virüp rūyuña bu ebrūñı seyr eyler göñül
Ṣuya āyīne ḳoyup gözler hilāli ṣan şehā
Ey Münīrī ḳadd-i dil-dāra göñül virme ṣaḳın
Getürür āḫir senüñ başuña bir bālā belā

In English

1. What embraces the beloved at every moment like a little shirt is his shirt; I wish I knew why the robe, with its wide collar (unable to hold him close), sulks and keeps apart.

2. Because the moon spoke the truth in calling your stature a cypress, the faithless heavens drove it out of nine cities (as the saying goes, the one who speaks the truth is driven out of nine villages).

3. O heart, what wonder if my tears appear before the beloved's face; by day too we sometimes see a shining star.

4. Having given itself to your face, the heart gazes at this eyebrow of yours; O king, it is as if eyes set a mirror in water to watch for the new moon.

5. O Münîrî, beware, do not give your heart to the beloved's stature; in the end it will bring upon your head a lofty, great affliction.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This ghazal is found in none of the three manuscripts of the divan; according to Ersoy's apparatus it is recorded under Münîrî's name only in the Anthology of Pervâne Bey (PB 14b). In his introduction Ersoy says that one of the ghazals he found in the anthologies is not in the divan and appears only in the anthology of response poems (nazire) compiled in 1560 by Pervâne Bey, one of the servants of Süleyman the Magnificent. Since no other Münîrî is known to have lived until the year the anthology was compiled, and since fifty other ghazals from the divan are found in the same anthology, he took this poem into the text of the divan. In the apparatus, however, there are three ghazals that do not appear in the divan manuscripts (tg 12, tg 32, tg 135); Ersoy's statement of "one ghazal" therefore does not fully match the apparatus. The attribution of the ghazal rests on this record.

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the twelfth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 12). The metre is "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The ghazal has no refrain (redif); the rhyme is the sound "-ā": dāyimā, ḳabā, bī-vefā, dilā, şehā, belā. The pen name is in the form "Münīrī". To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet (matla) sets up a scene of jealousy among the beloved's garments. The shirt, since it clings to the body all the time, is the closest to the beloved; the robe, because of its wide collar, cannot embrace him. "Göñlekçek" in its dictionary sense means a little shirt, and the word carries a closeness of sound to "göñül" (heart). We have read the verb "ṭaralur" in its dictionary sense as "sulks, takes offence"; according to this reading the line describes the robe's jealousy. This reading and the play of sound are our own observation.

The second couplet rests on a well-known proverb: "The one who speaks the truth is driven out of nine villages." The poet uses the phrase "ṭoġru söylemek" in both its senses. The moon called the beloved's stature a cypress; since the cypress is straight and upright, this is both a true word and a "straight" comparison. And the heavens drove the truthful moon out of "ṭoḳuz pāre şār", nine cities. The moon's constant change of place in the sky is explained by this exile. This use of the proverb (irsal-i mesel) and the double entendre (tevriye) are our own observation.

In the third couplet the beloved's face is likened to the sun and the tear to a star. By saying that a star can sometimes be seen by day in the light of the sun, the poet presents the appearing of tears before the beloved's bright face as something natural. In the fourth couplet the eyebrow resembles the new moon; the heart looks at that eyebrow like people who set a mirror in water to watch for the new moon. Water and mirror also bring to mind the eye wet with tears; this interpretation is our own inference.

In the pen-name couplet there is a pun (cinas) between "bālā" and "belā". "Bālā" in its dictionary sense means both "stature" and "high, great"; the phrase "bālā belā" also means a great affliction. The poet advises himself by saying that the beloved's tall stature will bring a great affliction upon his head.

Bibliography

Online sources