Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Biz ki rind ü ser-ḫoş u lā-ya‘ḳıl ü mestāneyüz
Çāker-i pīr-i muġān u ḫādim-i mey-ḫāneyüz
N’ola Mecnūn oldısa şimdi cihānda adumuz
Leylī-i zülfüñ yolında bes neyüz dīvāneyüz
Kūyuñ iti de bilişlik virmez oldı dōstum
Āşnālıḳ dut kim aṣlā yoḳ durur bīgāneyüz
Bir süvāre Türk içün meydān-ı ‘ışḳa gireli
Baş u cān terk itmişüzdür ḥāṣılı merdāneyüz
Şol cemālüñ şem‘ine kim yanmaḳ istersin Münīr
Sen seni ṣanma yaluñuz biz daḫı pervāneyüz

In English

1. We are rinds (free-spirited drinkers); light-headed, out of our senses, drunken. We are the slaves of the Magian elder (the old keeper of the tavern, read also as a spiritual guide) and the servants of the tavern.

2. If our name has now become Mecnun in the world, is that any wonder? On the path of your Leylâ-like dark lock, what are we? We are madmen. ("Leylī" recalls both Leylâ, Mecnun's beloved, and what belongs to the night; the lock is as black as night.)

3. My friend, even the dog of your street no longer shows us any acquaintance. Be familiar with us; we are by no means strangers.

4. Since we entered the field of love for a Turkish horseman, we have given up both head and life; in short, we are brave men.

5. Münîr, is it you who wants to burn at the candle of that beautiful face? Do not think this belongs to you alone; we too are moths (the night moths that hurl themselves into the candle flame and burn).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the hundred and thirty-first of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 131). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The refrain (redif) is the suffix "-yüz" (listed by Ersoy as "-yÜz"); the rhyme is the "-āne" sound: mestāne, mey-ḫāne, dīvāne, bīgāne, merdāne and pervāne. According to Ersoy's count of rhyme letters, ten Turkish ghazals in the divan rhyme in the letter ze; in the edition this ghazal belongs to that group. The ghazal is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 129a). To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In this ghazal a group speaks; every couplet is built on "we", and the suffix "-yüz" in the refrain carries this plural voice to the end of the poem. The opening couplet (matla) gives the identity of the rind through a series of epithets: "rind", "ser-ḫoş" (light-headed), "lā-ya‘ḳıl" (out of one's senses) and "mestāne" (drunken). The Magian elder and the tavern are motifs that can describe both a real drinking gathering and a Sufi lodge in divan poetry. Ersoy notes that Münîrî was not a Sufi poet but used Sufi symbols under the influence of Hâfız. Almost the same second line as in the matla appears in the third couplet of tg 153 ("Çāker-i pīr-i muġānam ḫādimi mey-ḫānenüñ"); this is our own observation.

The second couplet alludes to the story of Leylâ and Mecnun. A pun (cinas) can be sensed in the phrase "Leylī-i zülf": the name Leylâ is close to the Arabic word connected with night, and the lock is likened to the night. The lover's name being Mecnun (madman) forms a congruence of images (tenasüp) with the lock being Leylâ. The phrasing "bes neyüz dīvāneyüz" carries a note of humility, in the sense of "what else could we be".

In the third couplet the dog in the beloved's quarter is a well-known motif that measures the lover's devotion; the lover complains that even that dog no longer knows him. There is a contrast between "āşnālıḳ" (familiarity) and "bīgāne" (stranger). In the same couplet the idea of acquaintance is expressed twice, first with the Turkish "bilişlik", then with "āşnālıḳ" of Persian origin; this is our own observation. In the fourth couplet the beloved is called "süvāre Türk", a Turkish horseman. Love is a battlefield and the lover a warrior who has staked his head; field, horseman and "merdāne" (brave) form a congruence of images.

In the pen-name couplet (mahlas) the poet addresses himself and uses the motif of the candle and the moth. There is a joke here as well: he tells himself not to think that burning is a privilege reserved for him, since the whole company are moths of the same candle. In this way the pen-name couplet closes the "we" voice that the ghazal has built from the start.

Bibliography

Online sources