Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Mülk-i dilden ki gelür ḫayl-i ḫayālüñe nüzūl
Keyl-i çeşm ile dükenmez ne ḳadar k’ölçer m’ol
Merdüm-i çeşme dönüp baḳmaduġı hicr ile eşk
Rūz-ı maḥşerde mu‘ayyen k’ataya baḳmaz oġul
‘Āşıḳ olduñ diyü baḳmazsa n’ola kimse baña
Redd-i ḫalḳ olanı dirler ki ḳılur Ḥaḳḳ ḳabūl
Sille ururdı göñül baḫt-ı siyāh eñsesine
Bir keret boynuma ṣalsañ yañılup luṭf ile ḳol
İrmemiş göz yaşı yār işigine daḫı Münīr
Ṭoġru gitmedi meger kim ıralupdur aña yol

In English

1. Whatever comes from the kingdom of the heart as lodging (the portion for hosting) for the horse-troop of your fancy, it is not used up however much it is measured with the bushel of the eye (with the closing words "m'ol" the couplet is not wholly clear).

2. Since, because of separation, the tear does not turn to look at the pupil of the eye (merdüm: man, and the pupil of the eye), it is certain that on the Day of Judgement the son will not look at his father.

3. What does it matter if no one looks at me because I have fallen in love? They say that God accepts the one whom people reject.

4. If just once, by mistake, you graciously threw your arm around my neck, the heart would slap the nape of black fortune.

5. Münîr, the tear has not yet reached the beloved's threshold; it seems it did not go straight, and so its road has strayed far from it.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the hundred and eighty-fourth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 184). The metre is "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün". The ghazal has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme words meet in the sounds "-ul" and "-ol": nüzūl, ol, oġul, ḳabūl, ḳol and yol. The ghazal is found only in the Vienna manuscript (VY 158b); it is absent from the Vatican and Istanbul University manuscripts and from the anthologies of response poems. The edition records no variant readings. It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet begins with a military scene. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains the word "nüzul" as lodging, alighting, and the word "keyl" as a measure for grain, a bushel. The fancy alights in the kingdom of the heart like a troop of horsemen; the portion given to it from this kingdom is too plentiful to be measured with the bushel of the eye. That the couplet suggests a halting place where an army receives provisions by measure is our interpretation; since the end of the second line is not clear, we do not consider this interpretation certain.

The second couplet rests on one of the kinds of word play Münîrî favours. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "merdüm" both as man, human being, and, when used with words meaning eye, as the pupil of the eye. Because the tear is born from the pupil, it is thought of as the pupil's child, and the pupil, through the sense of "merdüm" as man, is put in the place of a father; this connection is our own observation. The tear that runs away in separation never turns back to look at the eye where it was born. The poet ties this to the Day of Judgement: the Qur'an tells that on that day a man will flee from his brother, his mother, his father, his wife and his children (Abasa 80:34-36). It is our view that the couplet recalls these verses.

In the third couplet the lover's exclusion from society is met with a religious consolation: God accepts the one whom people reject. With the word "dirler" (they say) the couplet quotes a saying and has the air of irsal-i mesel (the use of a proverbial saying); but we have not been able to identify the source of the saying. The fourth couplet contains the word "sille", which the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains as a slap. If the beloved, by mistake, were once to throw an arm around his neck, the poet would slap the nape of his black fortune, that is, he would get the better of his fate. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between "kol" (arm), "boyun" (neck) and "ense" (nape).

In the couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) "ṭoġru gitmek" has two senses: to go straight along a road and to act honestly. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains the old Turkish verb "ıramak" as to move away. The tear has not been able to reach the beloved's threshold; the poet attributes this to its not having gone straight, that is, both to its losing its way and to its being dishonest.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Official sources

Books

  • Kubbealtı Lugatı (Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük), entries "nüzul", "keyl", "merdüm", "sille" and "ıramak". https://lugatim.com/s/merdüm

Online sources