Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Dil hilāl ebrūsını gördükçe yārüñ dir revān
Ṣanki mevc-i āb-ı ṣāfīdür kim olmışdur ‘ıyān
Zer-nişān olmazsa tīġ-i āb-dāruñ ġam degül
Çihre-i ‘uşşāḳa yetişdükçe olur zer-nişān
Bunca ḳan itdügi la‘lüñden ṣorulmaz mıydı hīc
Böyle bu zülf-i girih-gīr olmasa ‘ıḳdu’l-lisān
Bir kez üftādem didüñ bī-çāreñe yarum aġız
Ölmeyüp süründügüm yoluñda oldur nīm-cān
Kūyuñ iti ben ġarībe dünle ursa ṭañ mı kim
Her kişi ṭarlıġanur bī-vaḳt olıcaḳ mīhmān
Gel senüñle naḳd-i cānı ortaya ḳoyup Münīr
Ṭutalum ‘ışḳuñ her işin yarı aṣṣı vü ziyān

In English

1. Whenever the heart sees the beloved's crescent eyebrow, it says at once (revān): "It is as if the wave of a clear water had come into sight."

2. If your tempered, gleaming sword is not inlaid with gold (zernişan), no matter; whenever it reaches the (yellowed) faces of the lovers, it becomes gold-inlaid.

3. Would your ruby lip never be called to account for all the blood it has shed, were it not that this knot-holding tress is the knot of the tongue (ukdetü'l-lisân)?

4. Once, with half a mouth, you called your helpless lover "my fallen one"; that is why, instead of dying, I crawl half-alive along your road.

5. Is it strange if the dog of your street should set upon me, a stranger, at night; everyone is annoyed when a guest comes at the wrong hour.

6. Münîr, come, let us put the cash of the soul in the middle with you and count every affair of love as half profit and half loss.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a six-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and seventh of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 207). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The ghazal has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme rests on "-ān": revān, ‘ıyān, nişān, lisān, cān, mīhmān and ziyān. The ghazal is found in two divan manuscripts (VT 146b, VY 122b) and in the Pervâne Bey Mecmuası (PB 426a); it is absent from the Ü manuscript. The third couplet is missing in PB. The anthology's other variants are small: in the second couplet it reads "irişdükde" for "yetişdükçe", and in the fourth "üftādeñe" for "bī-çāreñe"; the word "dünle" in the fifth couplet appears in VT as "dün ne". It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first two couplets are bound together by the associations of the word "water". In the opening couplet the crescent-shaped eyebrow is likened to the wave of a clear water; the word "revān", used here in the sense of "at once", also recalls the flow of water. In the second couplet the sword is "āb-dār". Besides the sense of juicy, fresh, the Kubbealtı Lugatı gives this word the sense of sharp, gleaming, keen-edged (of a sword or dagger); it explains "zernişan" as writing or figures inlaid in gold on metal objects such as a sword. In divan poetry the lover's face has turned yellow; the Kubbealtı Lugatı gives "zerd" as yellow colour, yellowed, pale. When the beloved's eyebrow (the sword) touches the lover's yellow face, that yellowness sits on the sword like gold inlay. A kinship of sound and sense can be felt in the couplet between zer (gold) and zerd (yellow) (our own observation).

The third couplet rests on a play with knots. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "ukde" as knot and the phrase "ukde-i lisan" as a halting in speech, a stammer. The tress is "girih-gīr", a knot-holding, knotted lock of hair; at the same time it becomes a knot that binds the tongue. The ruby lip has shed so much blood, but because the tress has tied everyone's tongue, no one can call it to account. In the fourth couplet the idiom "yarım ağız" (with half a mouth), which the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains as unwillingly, grudgingly, stands beside the Persian "nīm-cān" (half a soul): the one word the beloved said with half a mouth was enough to leave the lover half alive. The Kubbealtı Lugatı gives "üftâde" the senses of fallen, wretched and lover; the beloved's "üftādem" can be understood both as "my fallen one" and as "my lover".

The fifth couplet rests on an observation taken from daily life. The Kubbealtı Lugatı records that "dün" meant night in Old Turkish; "dünle" here means by night. We understand the verb "ṭarlıġanur" as "is annoyed", seeing it as related to the word family that the same dictionary, in its entry "darılmak", traces to the Old Turkish root "taru-" (to narrow, to feel vexed) (our own reading). Everyone is annoyed by a guest who comes at the wrong hour; this general truth justifies the dog's attack. Ersoy notes that Münîrî makes frequent use of proverbs and idioms; the couplet is an example of this manner of speech. The couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) uses the language of trade: "naḳd" (ready cash), "ortaya ḳoymak" (to put in the middle, to stake), "yarı" (half), "aṣṣı" (profit) and "ziyān" (loss). The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "assı" as an Old Turkish word for benefit, profit, gain and cites Eşrefoğlu Rûmî's phrase "assı ziyandan fâriğ ol" (be free of profit and loss). Münîrî thinks of love as a partnership in which both profit and loss are shared.

Bibliography

Online sources