Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Gerçi görinmez aġzı velīkin ider süḫan
Ey dil lisān-ı ġayb ile ider meger süḫan
Gelsün ḥadīs̱-i la‘l-i şeker-bārı diñlesün
İşitmek isteyen kişi şīrīn ü ter süḫan
Mīm-i ‘adem dehānuña virince bir vücūd
Ḫaylī müżāyaḳa çeker ey dost her süḫan
La‘l-i lebüñle serv-i sehī ḳaddüñ añalı
Oldı bülend-mertebe ‘ālī-güher süḫan
Bilüñ ḫayāline ṭolaşanlar neler çeker
Ey dil bilürdüñ idebileydi kemer süḫan
Sūz-ı derūnı ben nicesi vaṣf idem Münīr
Sīnemden aġzuma yetişince yanar süḫan

In English

1. Though her mouth cannot be seen, yet she speaks; O heart, then she must be speaking with the tongue of the unseen.

2. Let whoever wishes to hear sweet and fresh speech come and listen to the talk of the sugar-raining ruby lip.

3. When the mīm of "‘adem" (nonexistence) gave a being to your mouth, every word, my friend, suffers great straits (as it passes through so narrow a mouth).

4. Since it has spoken of your ruby lip and your straight cypress stature, speech has become high in rank and noble in substance.

5. O heart, you would know what those who wind about the fancy of her waist endure, if only speech could become a belt.

6. Münîr, how am I to describe the burning within; by the time it reaches my mouth from my breast, speech is burnt.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a six-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and eighth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 208). The metre is "mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "süḫan" (speech, word); Ersoy too shows this ghazal with the redif "sühan" in the redif list of his introduction. The rhyme rests on "-r": ider, meger, ter, her, güher, kemer and yanar. The ghazal is found in all three divan manuscripts (VT 147a, VY 123a, Ü 48b). The word "şeker" (sugar) in the second couplet is missing in Ü. In the fifth couplet Ersoy adopts Ü's reading "Ey dil bilürdüñ idebileydi" and gives the different reading of VT and VY in the apparatus; in that reading the first words run "Bir ḳılca bilür-idük". It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Each couplet of the ghazal takes up the idea of "speech" in the redif from a different side: the speech of a mouth that cannot be seen, sweet speech, speech squeezed out of a narrow mouth, exalted speech, speech that cannot become a belt and speech that burns.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In divan poetry the beloved's mouth is so small that it counts as nonexistent. Münîrî works this conceit in two different ways in the first and third couplets. In the opening couplet, because words are heard although no mouth is seen, the poet supposes that she speaks with the "lisān-ı ġayb", the tongue of the unseen world. The third couplet contains a play on letters. The Kubbealtı Lugatı presents "mim" as the twenty-fourth letter of the Arabic alphabet and explains "adem" as not being, nothingness, nonexistence. The word "‘adem" ends with the letter mīm, and the small round loop of the mīm is likened to a mouth. Thus a letter that comes from nonexistence gives the mouth a being (vücūd); an antithesis is set up between "vücūd" (existence) and "‘adem" (nonexistence) (our own observation). The word "müzâyaka", which the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains as narrowness, hardship, expresses the squeezing of speech as it tries to pass through this narrow mouth.

In the second couplet the ruby lip rains sugar; the adjectives "şīrīn" (sweet) and "ter" (fresh) carry this taste over to speech. In the fourth couplet speech rises because it speaks of the beloved. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "bülend" as high, lofty and illustrates the phrase "bülend-mertebe" as one whose rank is high. The height of the cypress stature passes into the rank of speech, and the ruby (a precious stone) into the "güher" (jewel, essence) of speech; there is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between stature and height, and between ruby and jewel.

In the fifth couplet the beloved's waist is a fancy, since in poetry it is so slender that it is usually counted as nonexistent. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "kemer" as a belt that is wound once round the waist and then tied. The lovers "wind about" the fancy of this waist; if speech could become a belt and encircle that waist, what they suffer would be understood. The word "ḳılca" (as fine as a hair) in the reading of VT and VY states openly the thought that the waist is as thin as a hair. The couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) closes the ghazal with the fire within: the poet's speech burns before it can reach his mouth from his breast, and so he cannot describe his inner burning. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between the sense of burning that the Kubbealtı Lugatı gives in its entry "sûz" and the verb "yanar" (burns).

Bibliography

Online sources