Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ḫaddüñ üzre göstericek zülfüñ ey meh kend’özin
Didi göñlüm ay ṭutulmaḳ ṭañ degül mi gündüzin
Bu dil-i bī-çārenüñ sevdā-yı zülf-i yār ile
‘Aḳlı gitmişdür ne deñlü anda ḳomazsa özin
Kimden ider bilmezem bād-ı seḥer de iḥtiyāṭ
Nirde bulursa alup ḳaçar hemān izüñ tozın
Her dem añarsam nigārı ey göñül ma‘ẕūr ṭut
Yārdan ġayrīlerüñ söyleyesim gelmez sözin
Mihr-i ruḫsārını gördüm dün gice yārüñ Münīr
Gerçi gice kimsene görmiş degül gündüz yüzin

In English

1. O moon-faced one, when your tress showed itself upon your cheek, my heart said: "Is it not a wonder that the moon should be eclipsed by day?"

2. This helpless heart, through its passion (sevdā) for the beloved's tress, has lost its mind, however hard it tries not to lose itself there.

3. I do not know from whom the morning breeze too is taking care; wherever it finds the dust of your footprint, it snatches it up at once and runs away.

4. O heart, if I speak of the beloved every moment, hold me excused; I have no wish to speak the words of anyone but the beloved.

5. Münîr, last night I saw the sun of the beloved's cheek; yet no one at night has ever seen the face of day.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and eleventh of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 211). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The ghazal has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme rests on "-zin": özin, gündüzin, özin, tozın, sözin and yüzin. The word "özin" (itself) serves twice as rhyme, in the opening and second couplets. The ghazal is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 147b). It is not known for whom or when it was written.

At the beginning and end of the ghazal there is a contrast of night and day, moon and sun; this contrast binds the opening couplet to the couplet bearing the pen name.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet rests on a celestial event. The beloved's face is the moon; when the black tress falls across the cheek, it darkens as if the moon were eclipsed. An eclipse of the moon is something seen at night, but because the beloved's face is as bright as day, this eclipse happens by day; the heart's astonishment arises from this. In the second couplet comes the word "sevdā", which the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains as strong affection, love, and also as black melancholy, melancholia. The same dictionary records that the word comes from the feminine form of the Arabic "esved", "black". The tress is black, and the passion is black melancholy; the heart has lost its mind through its passion for this black tress. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between the tress, passion and the loss of reason.

The third couplet is an example of poetic aetiology (hüsn-i talil). The morning breeze, wherever it finds the dust of the beloved's footprint, snatches it up and runs off. The poet interprets this as the wind guarding this precious dust from someone: hence the choice of the word "ihtiyat", which the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains as acting with caution, taking care. A poetic cause has been found for a natural event, the wind blowing dust about. The fourth couplet has the word "ma‘ẕūr", which the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains as having an excuse; the same dictionary gives the idiom "mâzur tutmak" as to be indulgent, to overlook a fault. The poet asks his heart to be indulgent with him for speaking of the beloved every moment.

The couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) reverses the contrast of the opening couplet. There the moon was eclipsed by day; here the sun has been seen at night. The Kubbealtı Lugatı gives "mihr" the sense of sun; "mihr-i ruḫsār" is the sun of the cheek. The second line sets this extraordinary event against a general truth: no one has ever seen the face of day at night. The antitheses between "gice" (night) and "gündüz" (day), and between "mihr" (sun) and "meh" (moon), bind the two ends of the ghazal together.

Bibliography

Online sources