Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün

Zülfüñüñ nükhetine reşk iledür nāfe-i Çīn
Nitekim lūlū-yı lālā dişüñe dürr-i s̱emīn
Yaşlu gözümle miyān-ı dil ü cān içre bugün
Sensin ol ġonca-i nāzük-beden-i perde-nişīn
Ḥasretinden gül-i ruḫsāruñuñ ey ġonca-dehen
Lāle-zār olsa yaşumla ne ‘aceb rūy-ı zemīn
Böyle bu ḥüsn ile sen şöhre-i āfāḳ olalı
Ḳaldı dīvārda ṭaş oldı hemān ṣūret-i Çīn
Ẕerreden n’ola hevāñ ile kem oldısa Münīr
Müşterīdür yüzüñüñ mihrine ey Zühre-cebīn

In English

1. The musk-pod of China is jealous of the fragrance of your locks, just as the precious pearl is jealous of your teeth, which are gleaming pearls.

2. Today, with my tearful eye, between heart and soul, you are that delicate-bodied bud who sits behind the curtain.

3. O bud-mouthed one, what wonder if, from longing for your rose cheek, the face of the earth became a tulip garden with my tears?

4. Since you became famous across the horizons with this beauty, the painting of China has stayed upon the wall; it at once turned to stone (stood transfixed).

5. O Venus-browed one, what if Münîr has become less than a mote through love of you; he is a buyer (a Müşterî, also Jupiter) of the sun (mihr, also love) of your face.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and twenty-eighth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 228). The metre is "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün". There is no redif (refrain word); the rhyme rests on "-īn": Çīn, s̱emīn, nişīn, zemīn, Çīn and cebīn. The word "Çīn" (China) serves twice as rhyme, in the opening and fourth couplets. The ghazal is found in all three divan manuscripts (VT 152a, VY 127b, Ü 50a); the edition records no variant readings. It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In each couplet of the ghazal one of the beloved's beauties outdoes something that competes with it. In the opening couplet locks and musk, teeth and pearls are set side by side. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "nâfe" as the pouch, filled with sweet scent, in the navel of the musk gazelle and gives as an example Zâtî's line "Öykünürmüş nâfe ey attâr zülf-i dilbere" (O perfumer, the musk-pod, they say, imitates the beloved's locks); Münîrî's line "Zülfüñüñ nükhetine reşk iledür nāfe-i Çīn" carries the same thought. The same dictionary explains the phrase "lü'lü-i lâlâ" as a gleaming pearl and "semin" as precious, valuable. The teeth are gleaming pearls, and even the precious pearl envies them. In the second couplet the beloved is likened to a delicate bud sitting behind a curtain between heart and soul. The closed bud suits the veiled state of the beauty behind the curtain; whether the curtain is the lover's tears is not clear. In the third couplet the bloody tears shed in longing for the rose cheek turn the face of the earth into a tulip garden. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among rose, bud and tulip, and an exaggeration (mübalağa) between tears and tulip garden.

In the fourth couplet the painting of China remaining on the wall is a double entendre (tevriye). The Kubbealtı Lugatı gives "sûret" the sense of picture, depiction, and offers as an example Fuzûlî's couplet "Ol pîr çü gördü sûret-i hâl / Sûret gibi kaldı bir zaman lâl" (when that old man saw how matters stood, he stayed mute for a while like a picture). The words "Ḳaldı dīvārda" describe both the picture hanging on the wall and its being left aside and forgotten; "ṭaş oldı" (turned to stone) suggests both its being worked into the stone of the wall and being transfixed with wonder (our observation). Once the beloved's beauty became famous, even the most celebrated paintings stood staring at it. The couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) is a couplet of congruent images built from heavenly bodies. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "Zühre" as Venus, the second planet from the sun, "müşteri" as a buyer and as the planet Jupiter, and "mihr" as the sun and, figuratively, love. "Zerre" in the same dictionary is a very small particle. Münîr has become smaller than a mote through love of the beloved; yet like the motes seen in sunlight, he too is a buyer of the sun, that is, of the beloved's face. The word "müşterī" is here a double entendre, meaning both "buyer" and "Jupiter". Ersoy records that Münîrî translated into Turkish the mesnevi Mihr ü Müşterî of Assâr-ı Tebrizî. The meeting of the words "mihr" and "müşterī" in this couplet also recalls the title of that work (our observation).

Bibliography

Online sources