Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Çün ḫayāl-i çeşmüñ içün ḳıldı göz yaşın şarāb
Ben de dervīşāne şāhā baġrumı ḳıldum kebāb
Kūyuñ itine fiġānum derd-i ser virdi diyü
Gözlerümüñ şīşesinden virürem her dem gül-āb
Şöyle gitmişdür ḳarārı gün yüzüñ mihriyle kim
Ḳapudan yol virmeseñ düşer bacañdan āftāb
Hem-dem idinmiş durur āh-ı seḥer-ḫīzi göñül
Gözlerüme her gice tañ mı ḫayāl olursa ḫᵛāb
Ya yetişem vaṣla yaḫod cān virem didüñ Münīr
Sözi ḫatm itdüñ hemān vallāhü a‘lem bi’ṣ-ṣavāb

In English

1. When (my eye) turned its tears into wine for the image of your eye, O king, I too, in dervish fashion, turned my breast into kebab.

2. Saying "my lament has given the dog of your quarter a headache", every moment I give it rosewater from the flask of my eyes.

3. The sun has so lost its rest through love of your sun-like face that if you do not let it in by the door, it will drop in through your chimney.

4. The heart has taken as its companion the sigh of one who rises at dawn; what wonder if every night sleep becomes a mere fancy to my eyes?

5. O Münîr, you said "Either I shall attain union or give up my life", and at once you brought your words to an end; God knows best what is right.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the nineteenth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 19). The metre is "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The ghazal has no refrain (redif); the rhyme is the sound "-āb": şarāb, kebāb, gül-āb, āftāb, ḫᵛāb, ṣavāb. The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 103a), Vienna (VY 83a) and Istanbul University (Ü 20b) manuscripts, and also in the anthologies of Pervâne Bey (PB 55b) and Nazmî of Edirne (MN 32a). According to the apparatus, PB reads "şāhum" (my king) instead of "şāhā" (O king) in the opening couplet, and again PB reads "idinmiş meger" instead of "idinmiş durur" in the fourth couplet. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet (matla) lays a banquet table. The eye has turned its tears into wine; the lover, to keep it company, turns his breast into kebab. Wine and kebab are the two basic offerings of the banquet, and there is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between them. Bloody tears are likened to wine, and the burnt breast to kebab. The word "dervīşāne" (in dervish fashion) brings to mind a poor dervish offering the only thing in his hands, his own heart.

The second couplet carries a fine humour. The lover's lament has given the dog in the beloved's quarter a headache; and the lover offers it rosewater from the flask of his eyes. The eye is likened to a flask and the tear to rosewater. The idea that rosewater is good for a headache is the basis of the couplet; this explanation is our own inference. This care shown to the dog expresses the lover's respect for everything bound to the beloved.

In the third couplet the word "mihr" in its dictionary sense means both sun and love, and the couplet rests on this double entendre (tevriye): the sun has lost its rest through the love it feels for the beloved's sun-like face. The second half of the line recalls the saying known among the people, "drive him out by the door and he comes in by the chimney". Sunlight falling in through a chimney is also a real sight. This link with the saying is our own observation.

In the fourth couplet the heart has taken as its companion the sigh of those who rise at dawn and sigh. The word "tañ" in its dictionary sense means "a thing to wonder at"; the same sound also suggests the word "tan" (dawn) and forms a congruence of images with "seher" (daybreak). This play of sound is our own observation.

The pen-name couplet tells how Münîr brought his words to an end by saying "either union or death". "Vallāhü a‘lem bi's-ṣavāb" in its dictionary sense means "God knows best what is right", and it is a formula once used at the end of a piece of writing or a ruling. By making this formula the last word of the ghazal, the poet both closes his speech and leaves the outcome to God.

Bibliography

Online sources