Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Kime kim görünse bu çeşm ü bu ebrū vü bu fem
Ḥayret ile dir revān Allāhü ekber ey ṣanem
Dirgürür gelse ḫayāli gitse beni öldürür
Bellü bildüm vaṣl u hicr-i yār imiş tiryāk ü sem
Nergisüñ siḥriyle zülfüñle dehānuñ fitnesi
Ḳıldılar baña vücūdum şehrini ‘ayn-ı ‘adem
Levḥ-i sīm üstinde gördüm ḳaşlaruñ ṭuġrasını
Defter-i ‘uşşāḳı dürdüñ diyü çekmişler raḳam
Dīde bu zülf ü dehān içün ki ḳan aġlar Münīr
Yazalar her ḳaṭresinden dem bu demdür dem bu dem

In English

1. O idol of beauty (sanem: idol, beloved), whoever sees this eye, this brow and this mouth at once cries out in amazement, "God is most great".

2. If (the beloved's) image comes it revives me, if it goes it kills me; I have plainly understood that union with the beloved and separation from the beloved are antidote and poison.

3. The sorcery of your narcissus eye and the mischief of your tresses and your mouth have made the city of my existence into the very essence of nothingness (‘ayn-ı ‘adem).

4. On a tablet of silver (the white brow) I saw the tughra of your eyebrows; they have drawn it as a written mark, saying, "you have rolled up the register of lovers (you have finished them off)".

5. Since Münîr's eye weeps blood for these tresses and this mouth, let them write on every drop (of his tears) "dem bu demdir, dem bu dem" (the moment is this moment; dem: blood).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the hundred and ninety-first of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 191). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The ghazal has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is on "-em" and "-am": fem, ṣanem, sem, ‘adem, raḳam and dem. The ghazal is found in the Vatican (VT 142b) and Vienna (VY 119b) manuscripts. The only variant reading in the edition is in the second couplet: for "ḫayāli" (his image) the Vatican manuscript reads "ḫayālüñ" (your image); in that reading the couplet addresses the beloved directly. It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet is built on a contrast (tezat) that brings a religious formula together with an idol. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "sanem" as idol and, figuratively, as a very beautiful person, a beloved. Whoever sees the beloved's eye, brow and mouth cries "God is most great" in amazement; this exclamation uttered before beauty forms a sharp contrast with the beloved's being called an idol.

The second couplet likens union and separation to remedy and poison. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "sem" as poison and cites the couplet "Kim ki seninçün cihanda içti sem / Ana tiryâk olur ol sem pes ne gam" (whoever drank poison in this world for your sake, that poison becomes antidote to him, so what grief) under the name Mihrî. The dictionary does not say which Mihrî this is; it may be Mihrî Hatun, Münîrî's fellow townswoman, but we have not been able to verify this. In that couplet too, poison and antidote stand together in the context of love. The reviving by the image that comes and the killing by the image that goes are tied in the first line, in an order resembling leff ü neşr (a figure pairing items in sequence), to the pair "tiryāk ü sem" (antidote and poison) in the second.

In the third couplet the phrase "‘ayn-ı ‘adem" has two senses. The Kubbealtı Lugatı gives the word "ayn" the meanings of eye, spring and the essence or very self of a thing, and the word "adem" the meanings of non-existence and, figuratively, death. The city of existence has become nothingness itself; at the same time the word "ayn" recalls the narcissus eye at the start of the couplet.

The fourth couplet is a scene taken from state correspondence. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "tuğra" as the specially shaped sign that the Ottoman sultans used in place of a signature on official documents. The white brow is a silver tablet, and the arched eyebrows are the tughra drawn upon it. According to the same dictionary, the expression "defterini dürmek" (to roll up someone's register) means to kill and to put an end to. The tughra of the eyebrows is like a signature confirming the order to roll up the register of lovers.

The couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) is built on the senses of the word "dem". The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains the Persian word "dem" as breath and as time, moment, and cites from Fuzûlî the line "Dem bu demdir bu demi hoş göre-gör ey ârif" (the moment is this moment; O knower, see this moment rightly); the same dictionary traces "dem" in the sense of brewed tea to the Arabic "dem", blood, and explains the Arabic "dem'" as tear. The writing of "dem bu demdir" on every drop from the eye that weeps blood can be read both as a drop of blood and as the moment being lived.

Bibliography

Online sources