Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün

Yā ḳaşuñsuz boyumuz yine kemān olsa gerek
Göz yaşı ḥasret-i ḳaddüñle revān olsa gerek
Sen gül-endāmuñ idüp cānumuza fürḳati kār
Her ṭaraf nāle vü feryād u fiġān olsa gerek
Sūz-ı ‘ışḳuñ n’ola sīnemde ‘ıyān oldıyısa
Nirde kim od yana elbette nişān olsa gerek
Çeşm-i ḫūn-rīzüñ ucından bilürem āḫir-i kār
Derd ile yüregümüz ṭopṭolu ḳan olsa gerek
Fāş iden sırrımuzı cümle-i ‘ālemde Münīr
‘Āḳıbet sīnedeki sūz-ı nihān olsa gerek

In English

1. Either, without your brow, our stature will once again be bent like a bow; our tears, it seems, will flow on in longing for your stature.

2. O rose-bodied one, once you have made separation your business with our soul, there are bound to be moans, cries and laments on every side.

3. What wonder if the burning of your love has become visible in my breast? Wherever a fire burns, there is surely some sign of it.

4. Because of your blood-shedding eye, I know that in the end our heart will be filled to the brim with blood and pain.

5. Münîr, what reveals our secret to the whole world will, in the end, be the hidden burning in the breast.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the hundred and seventieth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 170). The metre is "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "olsa gerek" (must surely be); in his list of refrains Ersoy counts this ghazal, together with the preceding tg 169, among those with the refrain "gerek". The rhyme is on "-ān": kemān, revān, fiġān, nişān, ḳan and nihān. The ghazal is found in all three divan manuscripts (VT 138a, VY 115a, Ü 44a) and in two anthologies of response poems, the Pervâne Bey Mecmuası (PB 363a) and Edirneli Nazmî's Mecmau'n-nezâ'ir (MN 225a). It is not known for whom or when it was written.

The variant readings are few but they clarify the sense. The word "boyumuz" (our stature) in the opening couplet appears as "belimüz" (our waist) in PB and Ü; in that reading it is the waist, not the stature, that bends like a bow. "Nirde" (wherever) in the third couplet is "anda" (there) in PB, and "ucından" in the fourth couplet is "elinden" (at the hands of) in PB.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal lists, one after another, the marks that separation leaves on the lover. The opening couplet sets up a comparison with a bow between the beloved's brow and the lover's stature: the brow is already bow-shaped, and in separation, without that brow, the lover's stature bends like a bow again. In the same couplet the tears that "flow" (revān) in longing for the beloved's stature recall the link, frequent in divan poetry, between the swaying of a tall figure and the running of water. In the second couplet the relation between the "rose-bodied" (gül-endām) beloved and the moaning lover calls to mind the motif of the nightingale and the rose; this is our own reading.

The third couplet is the most striking point of the ghazal and may be counted an example of irsal-i mesel (the use of a proverbial saying). The fire of love has become visible in the breast; the second line ties this to a truth everyone knows: wherever a fire burns, some trace of it is bound to remain. The lover's inner blaze thus rests on a general judgement, like a proverb. In the fourth couplet the phrase "çeşm-i ḫūn-rīz" (blood-shedding eye) turns the beloved's glance into a warrior; the reading "elinden" in PB for "ucından" shows that the line means "because of, at the hands of". The expression "ṭopṭolu ḳan" (brim-full of blood) is a lively Turkish idiom close to everyday speech.

The couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) completes the thought hinted at from the start: however much the lover tries to keep his secret, the hidden burning in his breast will in the end proclaim it to the whole world. There is a contrast (tezat) between "fāş" (revealing) and "nihān" (hidden). The idea of fire and its trace from the third couplet is taken up again here, so that the middle and the end of the ghazal are linked to each other. This internal connection is our own observation.

Bibliography

Online sources