Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün

Ās̱ār-ı feyż-i raḥmet ile Ḥayy-ı Lā-yenām
Dirgürdi ‘ālemi yine ölmiş iken tamām
Her bir şükūfe ḥayret ile göz diküp deñer
Gördi ramīm iken dirilirmiş yine ‘iẓām
Luṭf-ı Ḫudā yetişdügiçün ‘āleme ṣabā
Dār-ı selāmdan getürür her nefes selām
Nergis gibi gözüñi göñül açmadan n’olur
‘İbret göziyle gözle eger merd iseñ tamām
Yā Rab ne ḥikmeti ki gülistānda bu ‘aceb
Bülbüller iñledükçe olur ġonca şād-kām
Sünbül ṣaçın ṭaġıtduġı fikr ider āḫirin
Bād-ı ḫazān bilür ki ḳafāsındadur müdām
Her gül kināyet ile bunı dir bize Münīr
Dünyā-yı penç-rūzeden ummañ siz ihtimām

In English

1. The Ever-Living who never sleeps (Ḥayy-ı Lā-yenām, God), through the signs of the abundance of His mercy, has brought the world back to life, though it had been wholly dead.

2. Every blossom fixes its eye in wonder and gazes; it has seen that bones, though rotted, come to life again.

3. Because the grace of God has reached the world, the morning breeze brings greetings with every breath from the Abode of Peace (paradise).

4. O heart, what harm if you opened your eye like the narcissus; look with the eye of admonition, if you are a complete man.

5. O Lord, what wisdom is this, what marvel, that in the rose garden the more the nightingales moan, the happier the bud becomes (it opens and laughs).

6. The hyacinth thinks of the end of its scattering its locks; it knows that the autumn wind is ever at its nape.

7. Münîr, every rose says this to us by allusion: "Expect no care or favour from this five-day world."

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a seven-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and fifth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 205). The metre is "mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün". The ghazal has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme rests on "-ām": yenām, tamām, ‘iẓām, selām, tamām, kām, müdām and ihtimām. The word "tamām" serves twice as rhyme, in the opening and fourth couplets. The ghazal is found in all three divan manuscripts (VT 146a, VY 122b, Ü 47b). The edition's only variant reading is in the fourth couplet: "n'olur" (what harm) appears in Ü as "ne var". It is not known for whom or when it was written.

The ghazal is a spring poem, but it treats spring not as an occasion for the gathering of love but as a sign of admonition and of resurrection after death. The first three couplets describe spring as God bringing the world back to life, and the last four draw a lesson for man from the flowers.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening and second couplets rest on two verses of the Qur'an. Verse 50 of the sura of al-Rum begins, according to the Diyanet translation, calls on man to look at the signs of God's mercy, "how He gives life to the earth after its death". Münîrî's words "Ās̱ār-ı feyż-i raḥmet ile … Dirgürdi ‘ālemi yine ölmiş iken" take up the verse's phrase "signs of mercy" and its idea of giving life; this is an iktibas (quotation from the Qur'an). The words "ramīm" and "‘iẓām" in the second couplet also point to verse 78 of the sura Ya Sin; the Diyanet translation renders the denier's words in this verse as "Who will give life to the bones when they have rotted?" The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "remim" as rotted, used especially of human bone, and "izam" as bones. The poet answers the question of this verse with spring: the flowers gaze in wonder as though they had seen with their own eyes rotted bones come to life.

In the third couplet the morning breeze is a messenger bringing greetings from paradise. In its entry "dâr" the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains the phrase "dârü's-selâm" as "the house of safety", paradise; there is a pun (cinas) between "Dār-ı selām" and "selām" (greeting). In the fourth couplet the narcissus is the flower likened to the eye in divan poetry; in its entry "nergis" the Kubbealtı Lugatı also records the figurative sense of the beloved's eye. The poet advises the heart to open its eye like the narcissus and look on the world with the eye of admonition. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between "göz" (eye), "nergis" and "‘ibret göziyle gözlemek" (to watch with the eye of admonition).

In the fifth couplet a contrast (tezat) is set up between nightingale and bud: the more the nightingale moans, the more the bud opens and laughs. In the sixth couplet the hyacinth's scattered locks are set against the autumn wind. The words "ḳafāsındadur" can be read both as "is at its nape, is close behind it" and as "is in its head, on its mind"; because the hyacinth knows the wind is behind it, it thinks of where its scattering of its locks will end (our observation). In the couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) the whole picture is tied to a piece of counsel. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "penç" as five; "dünyā-yı penç-rūze" is the five-day, that is, short-lived world. The rose says this not openly but by allusion (kinaye): by its own short life it shows the transience of the world.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Official sources

Books

  • Kubbealtı Lugatı (Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük), entries "remim", "izam", "dâr", "nergis" and "penç – penc". https://lugatim.com/s/remim

Online sources