Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fe‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fe‘ilün

Gerçi şeh-bāz-ı ‘ışḳa kemter avuz
Naṭ‘-ı dehr içre güllesine ṭavuz
Gelse ne sīneme göñül ġam-ı yār
Görinür köye daḫı ne ḳılavuz
Bizden artuḳ meger ki yoḳ kimse
Ḫalḳ içinde ki öyle söz ü ṣavuz
Şol ḳadar ‘ışḳ odına yanduḳ kim
Ṭut ki yaḳmaġa şimdi biz de ḳavuz
Ġam yime inḳılāb-ı dehre Münīr
Ṣaġ olan baş geçürür Eyyūbuz

In English

1. Though we are a lowly game for the royal falcon of love, on the leather mat (naṭ‘) of time we are a "ṭav" for its ball. The second line of the couplet cannot be understood with certainty. "Naṭ‘" means a leather mat; we could not determine in what sense the words "gülle" and "ṭav" are used here. In Turkish "tav" means "the most suitable condition, readiness"; on this basis the line may be understood as "we are a target ready for its ball", which is an inference.

2. If the grief of the beloved should come to my breast, what need is there of the heart? What guide does a village in plain sight need? (The grief is plainly visible in the breast anyway; there is no need for anyone to point it out.)

3. It seems there is no one among the people above us; for we have such word and saying (words that are listened to). ("Söz ü sav" means word and report, word and claim.)

4. We have burned so much in the fire of love that, suppose, we too are now tinder (kav) for burning (others).

5. Münîr, do not grieve over the changing turns of time; a head that stays alive gets through (everything); we are Job (we are like Job in patience). (We have taken "baş geçürür" in the sense of "gets through, survives"; this is an inference.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the hundred and twenty-ninth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 129). The metre is "fe‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fe‘ilün". Ersoy's list of refrains places it among the ghazals with the refrain (redif) "-Uz"; this is the suffix of the first person plural ("we are"). The rhyme is the "-av" sound before it: av, ṭav, ḳılav, ṣav and ḳav. The rhyme of the pen-name couplet, "Eyyūbuz", however, does not fit this sound; only the refrain ("-uz") is shared. This deviation in the rhyme is our own observation. The ghazal is found only in the VT manuscript (128b); it is missing from VY and Ü. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal shares its refrain and some of its rhymes with tg 126: "avuz" (we are game) and "ḳavuz" (we are tinder) are used in both. In tg 126 the lover is game struck by an arrow and tinder that catches fire without a spark; here too he is the quarry of the falcon of love and tinder ready to burn. This common ground between the two ghazals is our own observation.

The most striking couplet of the ghazal is the second. The dictionary of the Turkish Language Association records the saying "görünen köy kılavuz istemez" (a village in plain sight needs no guide) in the sense of "however much they are hidden, the facts are plain". The poet sets this proverb into the line in the form "görinür köye daḫı ne ḳılavuz" and makes the rhyme word "ḳılavuz" (guide) sound like the suffix "-uz" of the refrain. The syllable "-uz" at the end of the word is not a suffix but part of the root; the poet has made use of a likeness of sound here. This play on sound is our own observation. The lover's grief is so plain in his breast that there is no need for the heart to tell of it. The TDV article notes that Münîrî was successful in the tradition of setting proverbs and idioms into poetry; this couplet is a clear example.

The second line of the first couplet is obscure. "Naṭ‘" means a leather mat; we could not determine with certainty the meanings of the words "gülle" and "ṭav". The dictionary of the Turkish Language Association also records "tav" in the senses of "the most suitable condition and time, readiness"; we think the line may be understood as "we are a target ready for the ball of the falcon of love", but this is a guess.

In the third couplet the phrase "söz ü ṣav" occurs; the dictionary also records "sav" in the sense of "report, word". In the fourth couplet the lover sees himself as tinder: according to the dictionary, kav is a quickly igniting substance obtained from a fungus that grows on trees. The lover has burned so much in the fire of love that he has become tinder to set others alight.

In the pen-name couplet the poet consoles himself: one should not grieve over the turns of time, for a head that stays alive gets through everything. Job (Eyyûb) is the symbol of patience in divan poetry; the poet likens himself to Job in patience. We could not establish whether "ṣaġ olan baş geçürür" (a living head gets through) is a proverb.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Official sources

  • Türk Dil Kurumu, Güncel Türkçe Sözlük, entries "görünen köy kılavuz istemez", "tav", "sav" and "kav". https://sozluk.gov.tr/

Online sources