Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ḳaṭre-i ḫūn ile ṭoldı dīde la‘l-i yār içün
Nār içidür kāseyile ṣanki ben bīmār içün
Bülbül-i gūyā-yı dil ḳılsa ‘aceb mi zemzeme
‘Andelīb-i ḫoş-nevādur bir gül-i ruḫsār içün
Gül yüzüñ mecmū‘asından bir varaḳ yazmış degül
Bunca evrāḳı ki dürdi ġoncalar tomār içün
Şem‘ gibi yumamaz göz giceler tā-ṣubḥa dek
Ṭal‘at-ı mihr-i ruḫuñla devlet-i dīdār içün
Bendeñi ḳaṣr-ı refī‘uñ sāyesinden sürme kim
Ḥācet olur kāha da āḫirde bir dīvār içün
Şol ki ḫāk-i pāyı tāc-ı farḳ-ı devletdür Münīr
Gerd-i rāhı sürmedür çeşm-i ūlü’l-ebṣār içün

In English

1. My eye has filled with drops of blood for the beloved's ruby lip; it is as if they were pomegranate seeds set in a bowl for me, the sick one.

2. What wonder if the speaking nightingale of the heart should sing; it is a sweet-voiced nightingale for a rose-cheeked beloved.

3. All those leaves (pages) that the rosebuds have rolled up to make a scroll have not written out a single leaf from the anthology of your rose face.

4. Like a candle I cannot close my eye through the nights until morning, for the good fortune of seeing you at the rising of the sun of your face.

5. Do not drive your servant from the shade of your lofty palace, for in the end straw (kâh) too is needed for a wall.

6. Münîr, he the dust of whose feet is the crown on the head of fortune: the dust of his road is kohl for the eyes of those who have insight.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a six-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and sixth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 206). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "içün" (for); Ersoy too lists this ghazal among those with the redif "içün" in the redif list of his introduction. The rhyme rests on "-ār": yār, bīmār, ruḫsār, tomār, dīdār, dīvār and ebṣār. The ghazal is found in all three divan manuscripts (VT 146b, VY 124a, Ü 48a). The only variant reading is in the third couplet: "dürdi" (rolled up) appears in Ü as "düzdi" (arranged). It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet likens bloody tears to a sickbed meal. The eye is a bowl, and the drops of blood in it are pomegranate seeds filling the bowl. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "nar" as the fruit, the pomegranate, and in a separate entry "nâr" as fire; the phrase "nār içi" therefore also suggests "the inside of fire", but the bowl and the sick man in the couplet bring the sense of pomegranate seeds to the fore (our own observation). The second couplet sets up the rose-and-nightingale image of divan poetry, taking the heart as a speaking nightingale and the beloved's cheek as a rose; the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "andelîb" as nightingale and "zemzeme" as melodious sound, song.

The third couplet is woven from words of writing and books. The Kubbealtı Lugatı gives "varak" the senses of both a leaf of a tree and a leaf of a book; "evrâk" likewise means leaves, the pages of a book. "Mecmua", according to the same dictionary, is a manuscript book containing poems and selected writings, and "tomar" is leather or paper rolled into the shape of a tube. The rosebud, with its petals rolled up like a scroll, becomes a scribe trying to copy out a page of the beloved's face; yet even with all its leaves put together it cannot produce a single page of that beauty. There is a strong congruence of images (tenasüp) between leaf, leaves, anthology, scroll and writing.

In the fourth couplet the lover does not sleep, like a candle that burns until morning; what he waits for is the "tal‘at", which the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains as face, beautiful face, that is, the beloved's face rising like the sun. The fifth couplet is the most striking point of the ghazal. The Kubbealtı Lugatı gives "kâh" two separate entries: one is a tall building such as a pavilion or palace, the other is straw. While the poet asks not to be driven from the shade of the lofty palace (ḳaṣr-ı refī‘), he reminds the beloved that even straw, the most worthless of things, is needed for a wall; the same dictionary defines mud brick (kerpiç) as unfired brick made of clay mixed with straw. The palace sense and the straw sense of "kâh" meet in the same couplet, and the second line supports the first by stating a general truth. The couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) has the word "gerd", which the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains as dust, earth: the dust of the praised person's road is kohl applied to the eyes of those who see with the eye of the heart, the people of insight (ülülebsâr). The words "bende" (servant), "ḳaṣr-ı refī‘" (lofty palace), "tāc" (crown) and "devlet" (fortune, state) give the last two couplets a courtly air; whether they are addressed to a patron or to the beloved cannot be settled with certainty from the text (our own observation).

Bibliography

Online sources