Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Kimüñ ile seyr ider diyü o serv-i pür-uṣūl
Peyk-i eşke şimdi mi düşmişdür ey dil şöyle yol
Zāhidüñ bugün bizümle ṭutuşında ḫayr yoḳ
Ṣol yanından ṭurdı beñzer ṭaylesānı gibi ol
‘Āḳıbet yaġma ḳılup dil mülkini talan ider
Ġamze-i çeşm-i Moġol-Çīn birle bu Türk-i Moġol
Çeşme-i cān leblerüñden k’aġzuñuñ yarı ṭamar
Mā’idedür ṭut kim ider dōstum gökden nüzūl
Fülk-i ten gibi gemüñ mi yaşa ġarḳ oldı göñül
Ḳanda kim gözüme ṭuş olsañ görürem key melūl
Yār itine kend’özin dün tuḥfe iletdi Münīr
Üstüḫᵛāndur bildi ammā luṭf idüp ḳıldı ḳabūl

In English

1. O heart, is it only now that the courier of tears has taken to the road like this, (to learn) with whom that cypress of graceful gait has gone out for a stroll?

2. No good will come of the ascetic quarrelling with us today; it seems he got up on his left side, like his taylasan (that is, he got out of bed on the wrong side and is ill-tempered).

3. This Mongol Turk (the beauty with a Mongol face), with the glance of an eye of Mongol and Chinese cast, will in the end plunder and lay waste the kingdom of the heart.

4. My friend, the fountain of life flows from your lips, so that half of your mouth drips (the sense of this part of the line is not clear); suppose, then, that (your lip) is a table come down from heaven.

5. O heart, has your ship, too, sunk in tears like the ship of the body? Whenever you come before my eyes I see you deeply sorrowful.

6. Yesterday Münîr carried himself as a gift to the beloved's dog; the dog knew that he was a bone (a body wasted to bone), yet it graciously accepted him.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a six-couplet Turkish ghazal, the hundred and eighty-third of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 183). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The ghazal has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme words meet in the sounds "-ul" and "-ol": pür-uṣūl, yol, ol, Moġol, nüzūl, melūl and ḳabūl. The ghazal is found in the Vatican (VT 141a) and Vienna (VY 158b) manuscripts. It is not known for whom or when it was written.

The variant readings are in two couplets. In the opening couplet the Vatican manuscript reads "bu serv" (this cypress) for "o serv" (that cypress); the Vienna manuscript has "düşmişdi" for "düşmişdür". The verb "ḳıldı" in the couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) appears in the Vatican manuscript as "ḳıla"; in that reading the couplet ends with the wish that the dog might graciously accept the poet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The couplets of the ghazal are like independent scenes. In the opening couplet the tear is a "peyk". The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains this word as a person who carries news and letters, and also mentions the courier soldiers who ran beside the horsemen in the Ottoman state. The heart, curious to know with whom the cypress-statured beloved is strolling, has set the tear on the road like a courier; a likeness is drawn between the tear running down the cheek and the running of the courier.

The second couplet is built on an idiom. The Turkish Language Association dictionary explains the idiom "sol tarafından kalkmak" (to get up on one's left side) as being in a contrary, ill-tempered mood. According to the Kubbealtı Lugatı, the taylasan is the end of the turban that hangs down over the shoulder. The poet speaks of the ascetic, ready for a quarrel today, as one who "got up on his left side", likening him to the taylasan hanging from his shoulder; we have seen no source on which side the taylasan was worn, and we draw the comparison from the couplet itself. In the third couplet the beloved is a "Türk-i Moġol" (a Mongol Turk); the Mongol and Chinese eye is the glance of a beauty with narrow, slanting eyes. The words for plunder and pillage make the kingdom of the heart appear as if it had suffered a raid.

In the fourth couplet the lip is thought of between the fountain of life and a table come down from heaven. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "mâide" as a laid table and gives the phrase "Mâide-i Mesih" as the table believed to have been sent down from heaven by God to Jesus and his disciples. The word "nüzūl" (descent) points to this religious story. The sense of the phrase "k'aġzuñuñ yarı ṭamar" in the first line is not clear; we have rendered it "half of your mouth drips" and do not propose a definite reading.

The fifth couplet contains the word "fülk", which the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains as ship or boat. The body is likened to a ship and sinks in a sea of tears. We have read the word "gem" in the line in the sense of "gemi" (ship); the sense of "gem" given in the Kubbealtı Lugatı (the bit placed in a horse's mouth) does not suit the couplet. This reading is ours. The couplet bearing the pen name carries the poet's bitter humour. According to the Kubbealtı Lugatı, "üstühan" means bone. Wasted to the bone by the pain of love, the poet offers himself as a gift to the beloved's dog; the dog recognises a bone and accepts it. Thus the lover's thinness and the dog's fondness for bones meet in the same couplet.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Official sources

Books

  • Kubbealtı Lugatı (Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük), entries "peyk", "taylasan", "mâide", "fülk", "gem" and "üstühan". https://lugatim.com/s/taylasan

Online sources