Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ġamzesine yārüñ iñende göñül olma yaḳın
Çoḳ senüñ gibi helāk itmişdür ey dil key ṣaḳın
‘Īd-i ekber diyü ḳurbān olduġ ise vaṣluña
Ḫūn-ı ‘uşşāḳ ile sen de dōstum ḥınnā yaḳın
Kendüñi iñende ta‘rīf eyleme baña raḳīb
Ḫod bilürsin kim mes̱eldür yalanuñ dibi yaḳın
Mihr-i ruḫsārına yārüñ beñzemezsin ẕerrece
Günde var āyīne-i mihre sen ey meh bek baḳın
Küfrüñ īmān olmaḳ isterseñ benüm gibi Münīr
Boynuña tesbīḥ gibi zülfi zünnārın daḳın

In English

1. O heart, do not go too near the beloved's glance; it has destroyed many like you; O heart, beware of it greatly.

2. Since, saying "it is the Great Feast", we have become a sacrifice (kurbān) for union with you, you too, my friend, stain your hands with henna from the lovers' blood.

3. Rival, do not praise yourself to me so much; you know yourself that there is a saying, "the bottom of a lie is near".

4. O moon, you do not resemble the sun of the beloved's cheek in the least; go by day and look closely into the mirror of the sun.

5. Münîr, if you want your unbelief to become faith, hang the girdle (zünnar) of her tress round your neck like a rosary, as I do.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and twelfth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 212). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The ghazal has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme rests on "-ḳın": yaḳın, ṣaḳın, yaḳın, yaḳın, baḳın and daḳın. The ghazal is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 147b). It is not known for whom or when it was written.

The word "yaḳın" serves three times as rhyme in the ghazal, but each time with a different sense: in the opening couplet "yakın" (near), in the second couplet "yakın" (the imperative of the verb to apply henna, literally "burn"), and in the third couplet "yakın" (near) again, this time inside a proverb.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The most prominent device of the ghazal is this pun (cinas) in the rhyme. In the opening couplet the heart is advised not to go near the beloved's glance; the warning "key ṣaḳın" (beware greatly) completes the rhyme with "ṣaḳın". We understand the word "iñende", which occurs twice in the ghazal, as "too much", and the word "key" in the opening couplet as "greatly", from the context (our own reading). The second couplet brings together the words "‘īd-i ekber" (the Great Feast), "ḳurbān" (sacrifice) and "ḥınnā" (henna). The lovers, counting union a great feast, have become a sacrifice for it; let the beloved stain her hands with henna from their blood. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "hınnâ" as henna and gives two example couplets: Necâtî Bey's line "Rûz-ı îd idi deyü eyledi hınnâ ile âl" (saying it was a feast day, she reddened [her finger] with henna) brings together the feast and henna, and Rûhî-i Bağdâdî's couplet "Öldürüp kanımıza sanma bulaştırmış elin / Bizi öldürdüğüne destine yakmış hınnâ" (do not think that, having killed us, she has smeared her hand with our blood; she has put henna on her hand for having killed us) likewise sets henna beside the lover's blood. Münîrî's couplet combines these two turns; the word "kurban" suggests that the feast is the Feast of the Sacrifice (our own observation).

In the third couplet the poet answers the rival who praises himself with a proverb, and says himself that it is a "mes̱el" (saying). Ersoy notes that Münîrî makes frequent use of proverbs and idioms; the couplet is a clear example of this. In the fourth couplet the moon cannot compete with the beloved's sunlike cheek; the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "mihr" as sun. The poet tells the moon to go by day and look closely into the mirror of the sun. We understand the word "bek" at the end of the line from the context as "closely, carefully" (our own reading).

The couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) rests on the contrast of unbelief and faith. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "zünnar" as the long girdle of hair that monks tie round their waists and cites Niyâzî-i Mısrî's line "Zünnârını kesmeden îmânı arzularsın" (you desire faith without cutting your girdle). Münîrî says the reverse of this line: it is not cutting the girdle but hanging a girdle made of the beloved's tress round one's neck like a rosary that turns unbelief into faith. There is an antithesis between unbelief and faith, and between the girdle and the rosary; the tress, with its length and its curls, is likened to the girdle.

Bibliography

Online sources