Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ṭoġrusın direm gerek öldür beni dirgür gerek
Ġamzeñ oḳına göñül ṭāḳat getürmek key yürek
Dūd-ı āhum göñlüme olmazsa fermān çāre ne
Başı ‘arşa yetişipdür felege dimez kelek
Devlet-i ‘ışḳuñ gibi ser-māye naḳdi var iken
Kişi rızḳ içün ḥamāḳatdan degül mi ġam yimek
Yoluña cān virmegi kimse dile ögretmesün
Kendü işin bilür ol ḥācet degül aña dimek
Şöyle görinür ḫadeng-i ġamzesi yārüñ Münīr
‘Āḳıbet göñlüm evine urısar çöpden direk

In English

1. Let me tell the truth: whether you kill me or bring me back to life, for the heart to endure the arrow of your glance takes a very great courage.

2. If the smoke of my sigh will not obey my heart, what can be done? Its head has reached the Throne, and it does not even call the sky a "kelek" (it holds the heavens as nothing; the couplet can be read in two ways, see the commentary).

3. When one has capital, ready money, like the fortune of love, is it not folly for a person to eat grief over his daily bread?

4. Let no one try to teach the heart to give up its life on your path; it knows its own business, and there is no need to tell it.

5. Münîr, the arrow of the beloved's glance looks as though it will in the end set up a pillar made of a twig in the house of my heart.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the hundred and seventy-fifth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 175). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The ghazal has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is on "-ek": gerek, yürek, kelek, yimek, dimek and direk. In the first line of the opening couplet the word "gerek" occurs twice, in the middle and at the end ("gerek öldür beni dirgür gerek"); here the conjunction "gerek … gerek" means "whether … or". The ghazal is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 139a). It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The language of the ghazal is plain, lively and close to popular speech. In the opening couplet the opposition "öldür beni dirgür" (kill me, bring me to life) forms a contrast (tezat); the words "ṭāḳat getürmek" (to endure) and "yürek" (heart, courage) say that withstanding the arrow of the glance is a feat of valour. The second couplet is the hardest part of the ghazal to understand. The smoke of the sigh has reached the Throne and does not submit even to the heart. For the word "kelek" at the end of the line the Kubbealtı Lugatı records two separate words: one is a river raft built on inflated skins, the other an unripe melon and, figuratively, a raw, foolish person. If the second sense is taken, the smoke, having reached the Throne, looks down on the sky and does not even deign to call it "raw"; if the first is taken, the sky is likened to a raft. Which is meant cannot be settled from the text; both readings are ours.

The third couplet states a piece of wisdom and has the air of irsal-i mesel (the use of a proverbial saying). Love is a "devlet", meaning both felicity and wealth; one who possesses this capital should not eat grief over his daily bread. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) based on the idea of eating between "rızk" (daily bread) and "ġam yimek" (to eat grief, to worry), and a harmony drawn from the world of money between "ser-māye" (capital) and "naḳd" (cash). In the fourth couplet the heart is portrayed as a master who knows by himself how to give his life on the beloved's path; there is no need to advise him.

The couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) closes with an image from daily life. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "çöp" as a piece of straw or a twig or splinter of that thinness. The arrows of the glance resemble thin, light twigs; yet so many of them will pierce the heart that they will become the pillar of the heart's house. The contrast between the slender twig and the heavy pillar gives the couplet a light, jesting tone; this interpretation is ours.

Bibliography

Online sources