Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Aḥsen-i taḳvīmsin nūr-ı Muḥammeddür yüzüñ
Ursa dem nuṭḳ-ı Mesīḥādan n’ola her bir sözüñ
Ḫadd ü zülf ü yār sevdāsına düşelden göñül
Hīc farḳ olınmaz oldı giceñ ile gündüzüñ
Tūtyā-yı cevherīdür gerd-i rāhı bilürem
Ey raḳīb añmadıġum saña deger nā-geh gözüñ
Ṭutalum kim ġam yimezsin ‘ışḳ odıyla yanmadan
Ey göñül cān-ı ża‘īfe bārī göynümez m’özüñ
Hīc meh-rūlar ḳatında ṭāli‘üñ yoḳdur Münīr
Berḳ-ı āhumdan ‘acebdür yanmadıysa yılduzuñ

In English

1. You are "ahsen-i takvîm" (created in the fairest form), your face is the light of Muhammad; it would be no wonder if every word of yours laid claim to the speech of the Messiah (Jesus). ("Dem" means both speech and breath; the breath of Jesus raised the dead.)

2. Since the heart fell into passion for the beloved's cheek and curls, there has ceased to be any difference between your night and your day (the black curl is night, the bright cheek day; the lover passes both in the same longing).

3. I know that the dust of his path is a jewelled tutty (eye salve); O rival, the reason I have not mentioned it to you is lest it suddenly touch your eye too. (The couplet is difficult; Ü reads "baña" for "nā-geh". The meaning given is our own reading.)

4. Let us suppose that you do not suffer grief without burning in the fire of love; O heart, does your very core not at least burn for the frail soul?

5. Münîr, you have no fortune at all in the presence of the moon-faced; it is a wonder that your star has not caught fire from the lightning of my sigh.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a Turkish ghazal of five couplets; in the edition it is the hundred and fifty-eighth of the Turkish ghazals (tg 158). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The redif (refrain) is the suffix "-üñ"; Ersoy's list in the introduction (p. 9) also counts this ghazal among those with the redif "-üñ". The rhyme is the sound "-öz / -üz": söz, gündüz, göz, öz and yılduz. The ghazal is found in three divan manuscripts: VT 135a, VY 112a and Ü 43a. In the third couplet the Ü manuscript reads "baña" for "nā-geh". To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet is built on religious allusions. The Kubbealtı dictionary explains the phrase "ahsen-i takvîm" as "the fairest of creation", notes that according to Islamic belief man was created in this form, and quotes Kâtip Çelebi pointing to the Qur'anic verse on the subject. The beloved's face is called "the light of Muhammad", and her words rival the speech of the Messiah. The Kubbealtı dictionary gives the Persian word "dem" the senses of breath and time. "Dem urmak" means to speak of, to lay claim to; but when Jesus is mentioned, the word's sense of breath also comes forward and a double entendre (tevriye) arises.

The second couplet is built on antithesis and leff ü neşr (enumeration and matching). The first line lists "ḫadd" (cheek) and "zülf" (curl), the second brings "gice" (night) and "gündüz" (day): the black curl corresponds to night and the bright cheek to day. Since for the lover both are part of the same passion, the difference between night and day has disappeared. In the third couplet the dust of the beloved's path is likened to tutty. The Kubbealtı dictionary explains "tûtiyâ" as the powder of antimony stone applied to the eyes; in the examples the dictionary gives under this entry from Zâtî, Leskofçalı Gālib and Nâilî, the dust of the beloved's feet or path is likewise made tutty for the eye. The second line of the couplet is not clear. The lover seems to hide this remedy from the rival, fearing that if he spoke of it the rival too would have his share of it; this reading is our own observation.

The fourth couplet contains the verb "göynümek". The Kubbealtı dictionary counts this verb as old Turkish and popular speech and records it with the meaning "to burn". The TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi likewise notes that many archaic words are found in Münîrî's poems. The form "m'özüñ" is a contraction of "mı özüñ"; "öz" here is a person's inner self, the core. In the pen-name couplet (mahlas) there is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between "ṭāli‘" (fortune) and "yılduz" (star); both words belong to the language of old astrology, which links fortune to the stars. The poet wonders that the lightning of his sigh, rising up to the sky, has not set his own star on fire; in this way his ill fortune and the violence of his sigh are joined in a single hyperbole.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Books

  • Kubbealtı Lugatı (Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük), entries "ahsen", "dem", "tûtiyâ" and "göyünmek – göynümek". https://lugatim.com/s/tûtiyâ

Online sources