Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Söyledükçe seg raḳībe ey dil ol baña ürer
Bes mes̱eldür ‘ālem içre bu ki sözden söz ürer
Cevher-i cāndur müferriḥ ey dil ol ḥoḳḳa-dehān
Ṣāni‘-i bī-çün ki dürmiş la‘lden dürc ü dürer
Ka‘be-i kūyuñ ṭavāfı birle eşki çeşmümüñ
Günde biñ yaşar ki varur işigüñe yüz sürer
İrmege zülfüñ nesīmine ṣabā her ṣubḥ-dem
Şöyle beñzer kim ṣınanmış Tebbet oḳuyup ürer
Çün ki ‘arż itdüñ Münīrī nāme-i iḳbālüñi
Defter-i ‘ömr-i raḳībi āḫir-i kār ol dürer

In English

1. O heart, whenever I speak to the dog-like rival, he barks (ürer) at me; so this saying is a proverb in the world: word breeds (ürer) word. ("Ürer" means to bark in the first line and to multiply, breed in the second.)

2. O heart, that casket-mouthed beauty is the jewel of the soul, a cordial (a medicine that gladdens the heart); the incomparable Creator has rolled (shaped) a jewel casket and pearls out of ruby. (The lip is ruby, the teeth pearls; "müferriḥ" means heart-gladdening, refreshing.)

3. Circumambulating the Kaaba of your street, the tears of my eye moisten (or: come to life) a thousand times a day; for they go and rub their face on your threshold.

4. Every dawn the morning breeze, in order to reach the scent of your lock, seems to recite the sura Tebbet by a proven method and blow. (Reciting and blowing is the custom of reciting a prayer and blowing to ward off evil; the VT manuscript reads "nesīminden", from the scent of, for "nesīmine".)

5. Münîrî, since you have presented the letter of your good fortune (the decree of your luck), in the end it will roll up (close) the register of the rival's life (the rival's life will come to an end).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the hundred and twenty-second of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 122). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". Ersoy's list of refrains places it among the ghazals with the refrain (redif) "-Er"; the rhyme is the "-ür" sound before it: ürer, ürer, dürer, sürer, ürer and dürer. The ghazal is found in two manuscripts of the divan (VT 126a, VY 92a). According to the apparatus, VT reads "nesīminden" for "nesīmine" in the fourth couplet. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The whole art of the ghazal lies in its rhymes. Of the six rhymes three are "ürer", two "dürer" and one "sürer"; the same sound carries different meanings of different verbs. "Ürer" means to bark in the first line of the opening couplet (matla), to breed, multiply in the second line, and to blow in the fourth couplet. "Dürer" in the second couplet is the plural of the Arabic "dürr" (pearl), and in the pen-name couplet the verb "dürmek" (to fold, roll up, close). This is the type of pun (cinas-ı tâm, perfect pun) in which the same word is rhymed with different meanings. The TDV article writes that Münîrî applied every kind of pun with success; this ghazal is a dense example. This analysis of the rhymes is our own observation.

The opening couplet carries an irsal-i mesel (the setting of a proverb into verse). The rival, as is well known in divan poetry, is a dog; speaking to him makes him bark. The poet ties this to the proverb "word breeds word". We could not find this proverb in a dictionary, but the poet himself presents it as such with the word "mes̱eldür" (it is a proverb).

In the second couplet the beloved's mouth is a jewel casket. "Müferriḥ", according to the dictionary of the Turkish Language Association, means heart-gladdening, refreshing. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) around the jeweller's craft among "cevher" (jewel), "ḥoḳḳa" (casket), "la‘l" (ruby), "dürc" (jewel box) and "dürer" (pearls). We think the word here also suggests a refreshing medicine prepared with gems; this is an inference and has not been confirmed from a source.

In the third couplet the beloved's street is likened to the Kaaba and the tears to pilgrims circumambulating it. "Yaşarmak" (to moisten with tears) is close in sound to the verb "yaşamak" (to live); we take both meanings to be in mind together, which is an inference.

The fourth couplet is the most interesting in the ghazal. To reach the beloved's lock, the morning breeze recites the sura Tebbet and blows. Tebbet is the 111th sura of the Qur'an and takes its name from its first word. Reciting and blowing is a popular custom practised to ward off evil; the blowing of the wind is likened to this breath. The word "ṣınanmış" (proven, tested) shows that this recitation is thought of as a method whose effect has been proven. We could not explain with certainty why the sura Tebbet is chosen here.

In the pen-name couplet "nāme-i iḳbāl" (the letter of good fortune) is set against "defter-i ‘ömr" (the register of life). The rolling up of the register means the end of life; the expression "the register of life is rolled up" describes death in divan poetry.

Bibliography

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