Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ey her yaña ḫayāli gözümden revān olan
Girdāb seyr ider mi kimesne bu vech ilen
Dil çekmezem ġamuñ daḫı dirse inanmazam
Lā-büd virenden uṣlu gerekdür sözi alan
Vardur maḳāmı her birinüñ ṣadr-ı sīnede
Ḫoş geldi zaḫm-ı tīrse de yārdan gelen
Bī-ḫod gözüm yaşıyıla dün gice düşicek
Kim idi bilmedüm gözümüñ yaşını silen
Derd-i dile mu‘ālece itmek diler iseñ
Var ey ṭabīb baña yeter baġrumı delen
Āḫir gözüm yaşı evüñi yıḳar ey göñül
Gerçi bu söz gelür saña şimdi yalan yalan
Görüp ḫaṭ-ı siyāhuñı ḫaddüñde dir Münīr
Āḫir gelür imiş başa elbette yazılan

In English

1. O you whose image flows from my eye in every direction: does anyone take a pleasure trip on a whirlpool in this way?

2. Even if the heart says it no longer suffers grief for you, I do not believe it; the one who receives a word must surely be wiser than the one who gives it.

3. Each one has its place in the seat of honour of the breast (sadr); whatever comes from the beloved is welcome, even an arrow wound.

4. Last night, when I fell senseless with my tears, I could not tell who it was that wiped the tears from my eyes.

5. Physician, if you wish to treat the pain of the heart, be gone; the one who pierced my breast is enough for me.

6. O heart, in the end my tears will bring down your house; though now these words seem to you a lie, nothing but a lie.

7. Seeing the black down (ḫaṭ, also "writing") newly grown on your cheek, Münîr says: "In the end, it seems, what is written surely comes upon one's head."

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a seven-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and thirteenth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 213). The metre is "mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün". The ghazal has no redif (refrain word); the line endings meet on the sound "-n": olan, ilen, alan, gelen, silen, delen, yalan and yazılan. The ghazal is found in all three divan manuscripts (VT 148a, VY 124b, Ü 48b). The only variant reading is in the fourth couplet: in Ü the words "bilmedüm gözümüñ yaşını" are written in the order "gözümüñ yaşını bilmedüm". It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In several couplets of the ghazal tears are the main image. In the opening couplet the beloved's image is swept in every direction by the tears flowing from the lover's eye. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "girdap" as water turning round on itself like a screw and the place where it turns, and figuratively as a dangerous situation from which there is no way out. The eye full of tears is a whirlpool; the poet finds it strange that the image should go on a pleasure trip on this whirlpool. The word "revān" describes both flowing water and one who walks away. In the fourth couplet the lover faints amid his tears and does not know who wiped them away; in the sixth couplet the same tears turn into a flood that will bring down the heart's house. The heart now thinks this "a lie, nothing but a lie", but the poet tells it beforehand that it will see the outcome in the end.

The second couplet contains a general judgement: the one who listens to a word must be wiser than the one who speaks it, or else he will believe every word. The Kubbealtı Lugatı also gives "uslu" the Old Turkish sense of wise. Ersoy notes that Münîrî makes frequent use of proverbs and idioms; the turn of speech in the couplet has the air of a proverb. In the third couplet the word "ṣadr" can be read both as breast and as the seat of honour, the place of highest rank in a room; the arrows lodged in the breast are like guests entertained in the seat of honour, and because they come from the beloved they are greeted with "welcome" (our own observation). In the fifth couplet the physician is sent away; the lover's cure is the beloved herself, who pierced his breast.

The couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) is the most skilful point of the ghazal. Besides the senses of line and writing, the Kubbealtı Lugatı gives "hat" the old sense of the beard and moustache newly appearing on young men. Seeing the black down on the cheek, the poet says "what is written comes upon one's head in the end": the down is a piece of writing, and what is written is fate. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "alın yazısı" (the writing on the forehead) as the things decreed in eternity to befall a person; in its entry "deli" the same dictionary records that the motto of the raiders and the soldiers called "deli" was "yazılan gelir başa" (what is written comes upon one's head). Münîrî joins this common saying to the down on the cheek and makes a closing with a double entendre (tevriye). In the same entry the Kubbealtı Lugatı cites Leskofçalı Gālib's couplet "Hatt-ı nev-hîz gelmiş rûy-i âle inceden ince / Hurşîd yüz tutmuş zevâle inceden ince" (the fresh down has come, very fine, upon the rosy face; the sun has turned, very slowly, towards its setting); there too the appearance of the down is seen as beauty turning, like the sun, towards its setting. Münîrî's word "āḫir" (in the end) also hints at this end (our own observation).

Bibliography

Online sources