Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün

Bıçaḳ süñüge ireli ġamzeñ ṣavaşından
Görseñ ki neler geçdi dil-i ḫaste başından
La‘lüñ var iken añduġı dil āb-ı ḥayātı
Bes teşne serābı ṣu ṣanur key ‘aṭaşından
Dāġ urdı ġamuñ baġruma yaşdan ḥaẕer itmez
İşin bilür ol baġladı bıñarı başından
İt gibi raḳībüñ bizi incitdügi yegdür
Āḫir bulur ol ḫastelerüñ gözi yaşından
Yüzüñi seḥer-geh görüp öldügi Münīrī
Bes bellü durur ḳutlu gün evvel ṭoġuşından

In English

1. Since the battle of your glance has come from knife to spear (since the fight has turned merciless), if only you could see what has befallen the sick heart.

2. If, while your ruby lip is there, the heart speaks of the water of life, then the thirsty man, from the violence of his thirst, takes the mirage for water.

3. Your grief has branded (dâğ) my breast; it does not fear my tears; it knows its business, for it has stopped the spring at its source.

4. It is better that the rival should hurt us like a dog; in the end he will get (his due) from the tears of the sick (the lovers).

5. That Münîrî died on seeing your face at dawn makes it plain: an auspicious day is known from its first rising.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and fifteenth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 215). The metre is "mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün". All the line endings close with the suffix "-ından" (from); this suffix works like a suffix-redif attached to the rhyme words: ṣavaşından, başından, ‘aṭaşından, başından, yaşından and ṭoġuşından. The rhyme rests on the sound "-aş / -uş". The number of this ghazal does not appear in the redif list of Ersoy's introduction. The ghazal is found in all three divan manuscripts (VT 148b, VY 125a, Ü 49a), and the edition records no variant readings. In this ghazal the pen name has the form "Münīrī". It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet begins with a battle scene. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "süngü" as the large blade fixed to the muzzle of a rifle and records that in the past this name was also given to those fixed on the point of a spear. The phrase "bıçaḳ süñüge ireli" (since it has come from knife to spear) does not occur in this form in the dictionary; it recalls the idiom "bıçak kemiğe dayanmak" (the knife reaches the bone: to become unbearable, to reach the last stage) in the same dictionary's entry "bıçak", and seems to say that the battle with the glance has reached its fiercest point (our own observation). Ersoy notes that Münîrî makes frequent use of proverbs and idioms; nearly every couplet of the ghazal has such a turn of speech.

The second couplet compares the water of life with a mirage. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "atş – ataş" as thirst, being thirsty, and "teşne" as thirsty; "serap" is the image of water seen in the desert through the bending of light. The ruby lip is the true water of life; the heart that leaves it and speaks of the water of life is like the man who, from thirst, takes a mirage for water. The third couplet is the most skilful in the ghazal. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "dâğ" as a brand burned on the body with a red-hot iron and, figuratively, the burn left by feelings such as love and sorrow. Grief has opened a burn on the lover's breast; tears could put out this fire, but grief, knowing this, has stopped the spring at its source. The Kubbealtı Lugatı records that "pınar" (spring) appears in Middle Turkish in the form "bınar" and gives the phrase "göz pınarı" (the spring of the eye) as the inner corner of the eye; "bıñar başı" (the head of the spring) is therefore both the source of the spring and the corner of the eye from which tears flow (our own observation).

In the fourth couplet the rival is likened to a dog; the poet is content to be hurt by him, because in the end he will get his due from the lovers' tears. We understand the verb "bulmak" (to find) here in the sense of "to meet one's punishment" (our own reading). The couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) closes with a word of good omen. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "kutlu" as auspicious, blessed. The poet died on seeing the beloved's face at dawn; this death, coming with the first light of day, is the sign that his day was auspicious. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between "seḥer-geh" (dawn) and "ṭoġuş" (rising); the beloved's face too rises at dawn like the sun. The word "başından" serves twice as rhyme in the ghazal: in the opening couplet in the idiom "başından geçmek" (to befall), and in the third couplet in the sense of the head of a spring.

Bibliography

Online sources