Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ey ġubār-ı gerd-i rāhı tāc-ı farḳ-ı ferḳadān
Āftāb-ı ṭal‘atuñdur nūr-ı çeşm-i ins ü cān
Gerd-i rāhuñdan yetişe diyü bir nūr-ı baṣar
Reh-güẕār-ı ṣubḥı gözler her seḥer kerrūbiyān
Menzil idinmiş ḫayāl-i lāle-ruḫlar çeşmüñi
Sürḫ-reng olduġı fī’l-cümle budur k’olmış ‘ıyān
Nergisüñ ḫışm eylemiş meh-rūlara baḳmamaġa
Nīl-gūn vālā-yı burḳa‘ ḳılmış ol bebr-i beyān
Yoḫsa şīr-i nerdür ol ṭurmış kemīn-gehden deñer
Ġālibā ṣayd-ı ġazāl itmek durur fikri hemān
Mihr-i ruḫsārına çoḳ baḳmaġ ile meh-rūlaruñ
Gözi beñzer kim ḳamaşdı yaşarur ol bī-gümān
Dūd-ı eflāküñ mu‘ayyen gerdişindendür hemīn
İncinüp bulanduġı bu çeşm-i ‘ālem-bīn-i ḫān
Gerd-i rāhuña ḳatı müştāḳdur çeşm-i Münīr
Ḳanı ol devlet kim ire yine ey ḫān-ı cihān
Rūḥ-ı ‘ālemdür muṣavver nūr-ı çeşm-i kāyināt
Ḥażret-i sulṭān-ı ‘ālem Aḥmed-i ḫān ibn-i ḫān
Ḥaḳ yavuz göz şerrini dūr itsün andan tā-ebed
Nūr-ı çeşm-i ‘ālem oldur ḥāṣıl-ı devr-i zamān

In English

1. O you, the dust of whose path is a crown on the head of the two stars Ferkadân; the sun of your countenance is the light of the eye of men and jinn.

2. Hoping that some light for the eyes may reach them from the dust of your path, the angels nearest to God (kerrûbiyân) watch every dawn the road by which morning will pass.

3. The images of tulip-cheeked beauties have made your eye their lodging; that, in a word, is the cause of its turning red, which has become plain to see.

4. Your narcissus (your eye) has grown angry so as not to look upon the moon-faced; that bebr-i beyân (the eye, likened to Rüstem's armour of tiger hide) has made indigo silk its veil.

5. Or is it a male lion that has risen and stands in its place of ambush; it seems its only thought is to hunt the gazelle.

6. From the moon-faced gazing so much at the sun of his cheek, his eye seems dazzled; no doubt that is why it waters.

7. That this world-seeing eye of the khan has been hurt and clouded is only the work of the smoke of the heavens, of their appointed turning.

8. Münîr's eye longs greatly for the dust of your path; O khan of the world, where is the good fortune by which it may reach it again?

9. He is the spirit of the world given form, the light of the eye of creation: His Majesty the sultan of the world, Ahmed Khan, son of a khan.

10. May God keep the evil of the evil eye far from him forever; he is the light of the world's eye, the fruit of the turning of time.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a ten-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and twenty-sixth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 226). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". There is no redif (refrain word); the rhyme rests on "-ān": ferḳadān, kerrūbiyān, ‘ıyān, beyān, hemān, bī-gümān, ḫān, cihān, ibn-i ḫān and zamān. The ghazal is found only in the VT manuscript (151a); the edition records no variant readings. Although most of Münîrî's ghazals have five couplets, this one has ten. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the eighth couplet, while the last two couplets give the name of the person praised and offer a prayer for him. This arrangement shows that the ghazal was also built as a poem of praise (our observation).

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Every couplet of the ghazal is built around the eye, and the symptoms of the eye ailment are traced to fine causes through hüsn-i talil (poetic aetiology). In the opening couplet the dust of the patron's path becomes a crown for the stars in the sky. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "Ferkadan" as the two bright stars of the Little Bear and gives as an example Nef'î's line "Güher-efşân olur emvâcı fark-ı Ferkadân üzre". In the second couplet the "kerrûbiyân" are, according to the same dictionary, the great angels nearest to God; even they hope for some light for their eyes from the dust of the patron's path. Here lies the idea that the dust of the path is a medicine for the eye. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "tûtiyâ" as the powder of antimony stone applied to the eye and gives as an example Leskofçalı Gālib's line "Hâk-i pâyin tûtiyâ-yı dîde-i candır bana" (the dust of your foot is collyrium for the eye of my soul). In a poem written for an eye ailment, the mention of the dust of the path as an eye remedy suits the subject (our observation). In the third couplet the reddening of the eye is explained by the images of tulip-cheeked beauties settling in it. In the sixth couplet the watering of the eye is ascribed to the beauties having gazed so much at his sun-like face that their own eyes were dazzled. In the seventh couplet the clouding of the eye is laid upon the smoke of the heavens. The Kubbealtı Lugatı gives "dûd" the senses of smoke and, figuratively, grief and care; the dimness of the eye is imagined as the smoke of the sky.

The fourth and fifth couplets are the richest of the ghazal. The Kubbealtı Lugatı records the figurative sense of "nergis" (narcissus) as the beloved's eye. It explains "vâlâ" as a kind of fine cloth and a headscarf woven of silk, and "bebr" as a very fierce animal resembling the tiger, whose hide is highly prized. In his article on "bebr-i beyân", Osman Kufacı explains, on the basis of dictionaries and the Shahnameh, that the phrase is the name of the armour of bebr hide, impervious to arrows and weapons, worn in battle by Rüstem, the hero of the Shahnameh. In the same article Kufacı examines this couplet of Münîrî. In his view the couplet is built on two symptoms of the eye ailment: the words "Nergisüñ ḫışm eylemiş" (your narcissus has grown angry) express the bloodshot eye, and the blue silk cover expresses the watering of the eyes. The prince's eye is imagined as a bebr-i beyân because of its strength and might. According to Kufacı, the couplet also suggests that the colour of the bebr-i beyân may have been blue. That the blue cover may also be thought of as an actual eye bandage is our observation. In the fifth couplet the same eye is likened to a male lion risen from its ambush, intent on hunting the gazelle; the gazelles to be hunted can be read as the moon-faced beauties named in the previous couplet (our observation). There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among bebr, lion and gazelle. The words "yavuz göz" in the tenth couplet use "yavuz", which the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains in old Turkish and in popular speech as "bad, evil"; "yavuz göz" is the evil eye. Having counted the causes of the eye ailment, the ghazal ends with a prayer against the evil eye.

Historical Context

The heading in the edition states the occasion of the poem plainly: "Berāy-ı Derd-i Çeşm-i Sulṭān Aḥmed Ṭāle Beḳāhü", that is, "For the eye ailment of Sultan Ahmed, may his life be long". In the ninth couplet the patron is named as "Aḥmed-i ḫān ibn-i ḫān" (Ahmed Khan, son of a khan). Kufacı identifies this Ahmed as Prince (Şehzade) Ahmed, son of Bayezid II. Münîrî's tie to Prince Ahmed is recorded in the sources. Ersoy writes that Münîrî attended the gatherings of Bayezid II and Prince Ahmed while they were governors (sancakbeyi) in Amasya. Drawing on Hüseyin Hüsameddin's Amasya Tarihi, he also reports that between 910 and 915 (1504-1510) Münîrî was chancellor (nişancı) at Prince Ahmed's court. The TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi states that Münîrî won the favour of Bayezid II and of his son Prince Ahmed (d. 918/1512) and joined their circle of companions. The prayer "Ṭāle Beḳāhü" in the heading shows that the poem was written while the prince was alive. In which year the eye ailment occurred and when the poem was written, however, are not known. In the eighth couplet the poet's wish to reach the dust of the patron's path "again" may suggest that he was away from him at the time of writing; but this is not certain (our observation).

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Books

  • Kubbealtı Lugatı (Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük), entries "ferkad" (Ferkadan), "kerrûbî" (kerrûbiyan), "tûtiyâ", "dûd", "nergis", "vala – vâlâ", "bebr – beber" and "yavuz". https://lugatim.com/s/tûtiyâ

Online sources