Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün

Nā-geh gülicek la‘lüñe kim düşe lü‘ābuñ
Gūyā ki ḥabābı belürür bāde-i nābuñ
Dil kim dökilür ḫūn oluban sīneme gözden
Āteş-gedeye ṭut kim iner ḳanı kebābuñ
Bir gün gözümüñ yaşı beni maḥv ider ey dost
Ṣu üzre s̱ebātı ne ḳadar ola ḥabābuñ
İncinemez aṣlā lebi düşnāmına yārüñ
Ṭa‘mı bilürem acı olur küllī şarābuñ
‘Iḳd-ı ser-i zülfine ṭolaşduñsa Münīrī
Sen daḫı bilürsin ki nedür bellü ḥisābuñ

In English

1. If, when you suddenly laugh, a drop of your saliva should fall on your ruby lip, it would seem as though the bubble of pure wine had appeared.

2. It is the heart that, turned to blood, pours from the eye onto my breast; consider it as the blood of a kebab dripping into a fire temple.

3. O friend, one day the tears of my eye will annihilate me; how much constancy (permanence) can a bubble on the water have?

4. The heart can never be hurt by the curses of the beloved's lip; I know the taste of wine, it is wholly bitter.

5. Münîrî, if you have become entangled in the knot at the tip of her curl, you too know that your account is settled (your end is certain).

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 sixty-second of the Turkish ghazals (tg 162). The metre is "mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün"; this sets it apart from the "fā‘ilātün" or "fe‘ilātün" patterns used in most of the ghazals on these pages. The redif (refrain) is the suffix "-uñ"; Ersoy's list in the introduction (p. 9) counts this ghazal among those with the redif "-üñ". The rhyme is the sound "-āb": lü‘āb, nāb, kebāb, ḥabāb, şarāb and ḥisāb. The ghazal is found only in the VT manuscript (136a); since there is no other witness, no variant readings are recorded for it in the apparatus either. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The images of the ghazal gather around liquids: saliva, wine, blood, tears and water. In the opening couplet the beloved's lip is a ruby, and the drop of saliva falling on it is the bubble of wine. The Kubbealtı dictionary explains the Arabic word "luâb" as saliva, spittle, and "habab" as a bubble of air appearing on the surface of water. The simile between the ruby-coloured lip and red wine is completed by the comparison of drop and bubble.

In the second couplet the lover's breast is an ateşgede, a fire temple, and the heart a kebab roasting in this fire. The heart that turns to blood in the eye and pours onto the breast is likened to the juice of a kebab dripping into the fire. The congruence (tenasüp) of kebab, blood and fire gathers the couplet into a single kitchen scene. In the third couplet the bubble image of the opening couplet returns with another meaning. This time the bubble is a symbol of a being that does not last. The lover likens himself to a bubble on the water and his tears to the water that will destroy it. The word "s̱ebāt" (permanence) ties the bubble's short life to the lover's own existence.

In the fourth couplet the beloved's curses are compared with wine. The Kubbealtı dictionary explains the Persian word "düşnâm" as cursing, abuse. Wine is bitter, yet it is drunk; even if the words that come from the beloved's lip are bitter, they do not hurt the lover. The relation of lip and wine runs from the opening couplet to this one. In the pen-name couplet (mahlas) the poet addresses himself. That the account of one entangled in the knot at the tip of the curl is settled says there is no escape from this snare. The Kubbealtı dictionary explains "ukde", from the same root, as a knot and as a matter hard to resolve; the word "‘ıḳd" appears to be used within this range of meaning. The use of the word "ḥisāb" (account) together with "bellü" (certain) in the couplet says that the end is known in advance.

Bibliography

Online sources