Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Cān-ı şīrīn virmişem ol la‘l-i şekker-ḫand içün
Düşmişem sevdālara bu zülf-i müşkīn-bend içün
Ġam yimez dil leblerüñ devrinde cānā ḥāṣılı
Ġonca-i nev-reste vü bādām u şehd ü ḳand içün
Ben semā‘-ı ḳavl-i muṭrib birle neyden geçmezem
Virme zaḥmet kendüñe yoḳ yire nāṣıḥ pend içün
Çāk olursa ḫancer-i ġamzeñle sīne ġam degül
Şāyed ire rişte-i zülf-i ḫamuñ peyvend içün
Va‘de-i vaṣla yemīn ider nigār itmez velī
Cān-ı ‘uşşāḳı ḳomış keffāret-i sevgend içün
Degzinür kūyın gedālar gibi gelmişdür Münīr
Var mı ḥaḳḳullāh ‘aceb dervīş-i ḥācet-mend içün

In English

1. I have given my sweet soul for that sugar-laughing ruby lip; I have fallen into passions for this musk-scented, binding tress.

2. In short, my love, in the age of your lips the heart does not grieve for the newly opened bud, the almond, the honey and the sugar.

3. In the samā (musical gathering) I give up neither the ney nor anything else, for the melody of the musician; adviser, do not trouble yourself in vain to give counsel.

4. If my breast is torn open by the dagger of your glance, no matter; perhaps the thread of your curling tress will come to stitch it together.

5. The beloved swears an oath on her promise of union but does not keep it; she has set aside the lovers' souls as the expiation (kefaret) for her oath.

6. Münîr has come wandering to her street like the beggars; is there, I wonder, a "ḥaḳḳullāh" (something given for God's sake) for a dervish in need?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a six-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and seventeenth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 217). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "içün" (for); Ersoy too lists this ghazal among those with the redif "içün" in the redif list of his introduction. The rhyme rests on "-end": ḫand, bend, ḳand, pend, peyvend, sevgend and mend. The ghazal is found in all three divan manuscripts (VT 149a, VY 124a, Ü 49a), and the edition records no variant readings. It is not known for whom or when it was written.

The ghazal comes a few pages after tg 206, which has the same redif; the two ghazals share metre and redif, but their rhymes differ.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet is built on words of sweetness and binding. "Cān-ı şīrīn" (sweet soul) and "şekker-ḫand" (sugar-laughing) complement each other. The second line has the word "sevdā", which the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains as strong affection, love and black melancholy; the "müşkīn-bend" (musk-scented and binding) tress, with its blackness, suits black melancholy. The second couplet is laid out like a table: the bud (mouth), the almond (eye), honey and sugar (lip) recall the beloved's beauties (our own observation). The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "nevreste" as newly grown and "kand" as sugar. While the beloved's lips are there, the heart "does not eat grief" for these; the verb "yemek" (to eat) in the idiom "gam yemek" (to grieve) forms a congruence of images (tenasüp) with the foods listed (our own observation).

The third couplet contains a double entendre (tevriye). The Kubbealtı Lugatı gives "semâ" the senses of hearing and of the turning of the Mevlevi dervishes to the accompaniment of instruments, and explains "ney" both as reed and as the wind instrument that holds a large place especially in Mevlevi music. The phrase "neyden geçmezem" can be read both as "I give up nothing" and as "I do not give up the ney". "Semā‘", "ḳavl" (word, sung text), "muṭrib" (musician) and "ney" are words of a musical gathering. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "pend" as advice, counsel, and cites Fuzûlî's line "Çok pend verildi olmadı fâide-mend" (much counsel was given, it was of no use); Münîrî's telling the adviser not to trouble himself in vain carries the same attitude.

The fourth couplet has words of sewing: "çāk" (tear, rent), "rişte" (thread) and "peyvend" (joining, grafting). The thread of the tress will stitch up the breast that the dagger has torn; the tress becomes both the cause of the wound and its cure. The fifth couplet turns to the language of religious law. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "sevgend" as oath, vow, and "keffâret" as what must be given or done under the sharia for the pardon of a sin or offence committed; in the same entry Bayburtlu Zihni's line "Verir keffâret elbette yemîninde olan hânis" (one who breaks his oath will surely pay expiation) says that he who breaks an oath gives expiation. Knowing that she will break the oath she swore for union, the beloved has kept the lovers' souls ready as her expiation. In the couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) the poet turns into a begging dervish wandering in the beloved's street; we understand the phrase "ḥaḳḳullāh" in the sense of alms to be given for God's sake (our own reading). We also read the verb "degzinür" at the beginning of the line, from the context, as "wanders about" (our own reading).

Bibliography

Online sources