Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Merdüm-i dīde deñer pençeresine yüz urup
Nūr-ı maḫż olmaġ içün mihr-i cemālüñi görüp
Gitdi dil kūyuña ölince muḳīm olmaġ içün
Bu degül fikri ki yine döne yüzini sürüp
İrmiş idi dile bir tīr-i ḳażā ġaflet ile
Bildi göñlüm ki kimüñdür anuñ izini sürüp
Böyle derd ile dirilmekden ise fürḳat ile
Yeg degül mi ki göñül ḳūrtulur cānı virüp
Teşne-leb ḫod saña ḳarşu bu Münīr öli yorur
Yoḳ yire la‘l-i lebüñ n’eyler ki kana girüp

In English

1. The pupil of the eye presses its face to the window (of the eye) so that, seeing the sun of your beauty, it may become pure light.

2. The heart went to your quarter to dwell there until death; it has no thought of turning back again, dragging its face.

3. An arrow of fate had reached the heart unawares; my heart followed its track and knew whose arrow it was.

4. Rather than live with such pain in separation, is it not better for the heart to give up its life and be free?

5. This Münîr walks before you like a dead man, with parched lips already; why should your ruby lips needlessly take his blood upon themselves?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the twenty-first of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 21). The metre is "fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilün". The refrain (redif) is the converb suffix "-üp/-up"; in the list of refrains in Ersoy's introduction the refrain "-up" is given only for tg 21. The rhyme is the "-r" sound before the suffix: urup, görüp, sürüp, sürüp, virüp, girüp. The poem is found only in the Istanbul University manuscript (Ü 21a), that is, the copy made by Murad III. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In the opening couplet (matla) the eye resembles a house, and the pupil a person who presses his face to the window and looks out. "Merdüm-i dīde" in its dictionary sense means the pupil of the eye; since the word "merdüm" also means "person", the pupil is thought of as a person looking out of a window. The pupil, seeing the beloved's sun-like face, wishes to become pure light. We have taken the verb "deñer" at the beginning of the line from the verb "deñ-", meaning "to touch" in Old Turkish; this reading is our own observation.

In the second and third couplets the word "sürüp" rhymes in two different senses. In the second couplet "yüz sürmek" describes turning back in a wretched state, dragging one's face on the ground; in the third couplet "iz sürmek" means following a track. The rhyming of the same word in two different meanings is an example of a pun (cinas); this observation is our own. The heart has gone to the beloved's quarter to stay there until death and does not think of turning back.

In the third couplet an arrow suddenly reaches the heart. The heart follows the track of this arrow and understands that it came from the beloved's glance. Finding whose arrow it was by following the track also brings to mind hunters tracking and finding the game they have shot. The fourth couplet is a judgement built in the form of a question: rather than live with pain in separation, it is better to die and be free. There is a contrast between "dirilmek" (living) and "cān virmek" (giving up one's life), and the form of the question shows that the lover has long since reached this conclusion.

In the pen-name couplet the lover is one who walks like a dead man with parched lips. The idiom "ḳana girmek" in its dictionary sense means to cause someone's death and take the guilt of it upon oneself. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between the redness of the ruby lips and blood. Since the lover already counts as dead, there is no need for the beloved's lips to take his blood upon themselves; the poet closes the ghazal with this subtle irony.

Bibliography

Online sources