Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fe‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fe‘ilün

Ṣorma dilden ḫadeng neyidügin
Delüdür bilmez ol ḫo dün yidügin
Göñlümi zülf-i yāra virmiş idüm
Bilmez ol daḫı anı n’eyledügin
Cān virürem lebüñe didise dil
Āḫir ider bilürem ol didügin
Vā‘iẓ-i şehr gerçi çoḳ söyler
Bilmezem kim ṭutar mı söyledügin
Ḫāk olur gün yüzüñ yolına Münīr
Buldı bes yirde gökde istedügin

In English

1. Do not ask the heart what the arrow is; it is mad, it does not even know what it ate yesterday (which arrow it took yesterday).

2. I had given my heart to the beloved's locks; they, too, do not know what they have done with it.

3. If the heart has said "I will give my life for your lip", in the end it will do what it said, I know.

4. The preacher of the city speaks much, it is true; but I do not know whether he holds to (practises) what he says.

5. Münîr becomes dust on the path of your sun-like face; so he has found on earth what he sought in the sky.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and twenty-second of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 222). The metre is "fe‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fe‘ilün". The lines end with the suffix "-dügin": ne idügin (neyidügin), yidügin, n'eyledügin, didügin, söyledügin, istedügin; the rhyme rests on this suffix and the sounds before it. The ghazal is found in the VT (150a) and VY (126a) manuscripts. The variants in the apparatus are in the couplet bearing the pen name: VT reads "yüzi" in place of "yüzüñ", and VY gives the second line as "N'ola bes yirde buldı istedügin". It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The language of the ghazal is close to everyday speech, and most of its couplets are built on an idiom or an observation. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "hadeng" as arrow. In the opening couplet the heart has taken so many of the arrows that come from the beloved's glance that it has lost its wits; it is useless to ask it what an arrow is. In its entry "yemek" (to eat) the same dictionary shows that the verb means to receive a blow in idioms such as "darbe yemek, dayak yemek, çimdik yemek" (to take a blow, a beating, a pinch); the line can therefore be read both as "does not know what it ate yesterday" and as "does not know which arrow it took yesterday" (our observation). In the second couplet the heart has been handed over to the beloved's locks; the scattered, tangled locks are so careless that they do not know what they have done with it. The third couplet says that the lover keeps his word: the heart that has said it will give its life for the lip will in the end truly give it.

The fourth couplet refers to the familiar type of the "preacher" (vaiz) in divan poetry. The city's preacher talks a great deal, but the poet is not sure whether he holds to what he says; the words "ṭutar mı" can express both whether the preacher himself follows his own words and whether his words take hold among the people. When the third and fourth couplets are set side by side, a contrast arises between the lover's heart, which keeps its word, and the preacher's word, which is not kept (our observation). The couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) is built on an idiom. In its entry "gök" (sky) the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains the idiom "gökte ararken yerde bulmak" (to find on earth while seeking in the sky) as suddenly finding at hand, when least expected, a person or thing one greatly desired, and gives as an example İzzet Molla's line "Yerde buldum o mehi gökte ararken bu gece". Münîrî also uses the idiom in its literal sense: the beloved's face is the sun, and the sun is sought in the sky; but when the poet becomes dust on the beloved's path, he finds this sun on the ground. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among the words "gün" (sun), "gök" (sky), "yer" (earth) and "ḫāk" (dust).

Bibliography

Online sources