Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Vaḳthā bendesin añsa n’ola ol yār-ı kerīm
Vardur anuñla göñül ortada bir ‘ahd-i ḳadīm
Bir bahāneyle hele gün de görür gün yüzüñi
Devlet anuñ kim olupdur ser-i kūyuñda muḳīm
Şol ḳadar kim bu gice yildi maḥalleñde senüñ
Ṣubḥ-dem deprenemez cehd idüben bād-ı nesīm
Hīc müflis diye mi bendeñe erbāb-ı naẓar
Dāmen ile döker iken bu gözüm dürr-i yetīm
Yoġ ise sīm ü zerüñ ġam yimegil hīc Münir
Bes degül mi saña luṭf-ı süḫan u ṭab‘-ı selīm

In English

1. What wonder if that generous beloved should now and then remember this servant of his; the heart has an ancient covenant (a pledge given long ago) standing with him.

2. Fortunate is he who has settled at the head of your street; on some pretext, at least, he sees your sun-like face every day, and so he also "sees the day" (gün görmek: both to see the sun and to enjoy good days).

3. Tonight the dawn breeze ran about your quarter so much that at daybreak, however hard it strives, it cannot stir.

4. While this eye of mine pours peerless pearls (dürr-i yetīm, here its tears) by the skirtful, would men of discernment ever call your servant "bankrupt" (müflis, penniless)?

5. Münîr, if you have no silver and gold, do not grieve at all; are not the grace of speech and a sound disposition enough for you?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the hundred and ninety-third of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 193). The metre is "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün". The ghazal has no redif (refrain word), and its number does not appear in the list of redifs in Ersoy's introduction. The rhyme rests on "-īm": kerīm, ḳadīm, muḳīm, nesīm, yetīm and selīm. The ghazal is found in all three divan manuscripts (VT 143a, VY 121b, Ü 47a), and the edition records no variant readings. It is not known for whom or when it was written.

In the introduction to the edition, Ersen Ersoy quotes the couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) of this ghazal when describing how the poet regarded his own poetry and character. According to Ersoy, the poet holds that even without wealth or property, fine speech and a gentle, sound disposition are enough for a man; in the same place Ersoy notes that Münîrî considered speech as precious as a jewel.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The main line of the ghazal is the contrast between poverty and worth. The opening couplet names the bond between lover and beloved an "‘ahd-i ḳadīm", an ancient covenant, and gives the beloved the epithet "kerīm" (generous). The beloved's remembering his servant is thus seen as a favour; it is not a reward the lover has earned but the recollection of an old pledge.

In the second couplet the word "gün" is used in two senses within the same line. The Kubbealtı Lugatı also gives "gün" the sense of the sun, and explains the idiom "gün görmek" as to live through good days. The one who lives in the beloved's quarter sees that sun-like face every day and thereby "sees the day", that is, lives happily; the couplet rests on this pun (cinas). In the third couplet the dawn breeze has run about the beloved's quarter all night and so cannot stir when morning comes. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains the verb "yelmek" as to go like the wind, to run; the word "yildi" also echoes in sound the very name of the wind (yel). In divan poetry the morning breeze is the messenger who carries the beloved's scent; its exhaustion is presented as a sign of how eagerly it performed this task (our observation).

The fourth couplet prepares the contrast of the last couplet. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "dürr-i yetîm" as a large and highly prized pearl formed alone in a single shell, and "müflis" as one who has gone bankrupt, a penniless person. A lover whose eye pours peerless pearls into his skirt cannot be called poor; the pearls are of course his tears. In the couplet bearing the pen name this thought turns to the poet himself: "sīm ü zer" (silver and gold) stand on one side, and "luṭf-ı süḫan" (the grace of speech) and "ṭab‘-ı selīm" (a sound, pure disposition) on the other. The tear-pearl of the fourth couplet becomes speech itself in the final couplet; the ghazal's sense of value is built between these two couplets (our observation).

Bibliography

Online sources