Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Gerçi bī-ṣāġar u mey bir nefes olmalu degül
Nuḳl ü la‘lüñsüz anı hīc ele almalu degül
Sāḳī-i lāle-ruḫ u ġonca-leb olmasa göñül
Hīc bir bezm-gehe mey diyü varmalu degül
Gelme kūyına diyü gerçi ṭalar bizi raḳīb
Bir it ucından o yoldan daḫı ḳalmalu degül
Düşe gird-āba diyü sensizin ey dürr-i yetīm
Zevraḳ-ı sāġarı baḥr-i meye ṣalmalu degül
Şöhretüñ ṭutmış iken kūy-ı ḫarābātı Münīr
Zühd içün şīşe-i nengi ṭaşa çalmalu degül

In English

1. True, one should not pass a single breath without cup and wine; but without a relish to go with it and without your ruby lip, one should never take it in hand at all.

2. O heart, if the cupbearer is not tulip-cheeked and rosebud-lipped, one should not go to any gathering in the name of wine.

3. True, the rival drives us off, saying "Do not come to his street"; but one should not stay away from that road because of a dog.

4. O peerless pearl (dürr-i yetīm), without you one should not launch the boat of the cup on the sea of wine, lest it fall into a whirlpool.

5. Münîr, while your fame has filled the quarter of the taverns, one should not dash the bottle of renown and honour against a stone for the sake of asceticism (you should not destroy the name you won as a "rind", a free-spirited drinker, for the sake of piety).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the hundred and seventy-seventh of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 177). The metre is "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "-malu degül" (one should not); Ersoy records this ghazal with this refrain in his list. The rhyme lies in the verb stems before the refrain: ol-, al-, var-, ḳal-, ṣal- and çal-. Most of them meet in the sound "-al". The ghazal is found in the three divan manuscripts (VT 139b, VY 118a, Ü 45b) and in two anthologies of response poems, the Pervâne Bey Mecmuası (PB 317b) and Edirneli Nazmî's Mecmau'n-nezâ'ir (MN 241b). It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Most of the variant readings concern the pronunciation of the refrain: the Istanbul University manuscript and MN write "-malı" for "-malu" in all five couplets. In the fourth couplet MN reads "mey baḥrine" for "baḥr-i meye", and PB reads "sensiz ey" for "sensizin ey" in the same couplet. "Nuḳl ü" in the first couplet appears as "nuḳl-i" in VY, Ü and MN.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

From beginning to end the ghazal reads like a list of the rules of the drinking party. The refrain "-malu degül" sets up a language of prohibition and counsel, "one should not"; the poet announces the etiquette of the gathering like a lawgiver. In the opening couplet cup and wine are not enough on their own: "nuḳl", which the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains as food eaten with drink, a relish, is needed as well, and so is the beloved's ruby lip. Putting the lip in place of a relish accords with the divan motifs that liken the lip to sweets and to wine. In the second couplet it is made a condition that the cupbearer be tulip-cheeked and rosebud-lipped; there is a congruence of images (tenasüp) based on colour between tulip, rosebud and wine.

In the third couplet the rival is likened to a dog, and the phrase "bir it ucından" is a lively popular expression meaning "because of a dog". The fourth couplet builds a sea scene: wine is a sea, the cup a boat floating on it, and the beloved a peerless pearl. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "zevrak" as both a boat and a glass vessel; hence the phrase "zevraḳ-ı sāġar" (the boat of the cup) contains a double entendre (tevriye) between boat and cup. The same dictionary explains "dürr-i yetīm" as a large, highly prized pearl formed alone in a single shell. The congruence between whirlpool, sea, boat and pearl ties the whole couplet to the sea.

The couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) takes up the opposition between the "rind" (the free-spirited drinker) and the ascetic. The Kubbealtı Lugatı gives the Persian word "neng" both the senses of fame, renown and of honour, shame, and cites as an example the line of Eşrefoğlu Rûmî "Taşa çaldı şîşesin nâm u nengin" (he dashed against a stone the bottle of his name and renown). To dash the bottle against a stone here means to cast aside name, fame and sense of shame. The fame Münîrî has won in the quarter of the taverns should not be sacrificed for the sake of piety. There is also a congruence based on closeness of meaning between "şöhret" (fame) and "neng".

Bibliography

Online sources