Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ben bende-i bī-çāreñe ḳılsañ naẓar ey dost
Sen pādşeh-i mülk-i cemāle ne żar ey dost
Şol deñlü ġanī ḳıldı beni genc-i ḫayālüñ
Kim düşdi gözümden dür ü la‘l ü güher ey dost
Ẕevḳ itse ḫayāl-i lebüñ ile n’ola göñlüm
Bes ḫoşdur iñen ḫasteye gül-bā-şeker ey dost
Ża‘f ile vücūdum çöpe döndügi budur kim
Şāyed k’ilede kūyuña bād-ı seḥer ey dost
Bir kez dimedüñ ṭāli‘-i naḥs ile demüñ ne
Bir ẕerre Münīre naẓaruñ yoḳ meger ey dost

In English

1. O friend, if you would cast a glance once at your helpless servant, what harm would come of it to you, the king of the realm of beauty, O friend?

2. O friend, the treasure of your image has made me so rich that pearls, rubies and jewels have poured from my eyes, O friend.

3. O friend, what if my heart takes delight in the image of your lips; rose-sugar is most pleasant to the sick, O friend.

4. O friend, the reason my body has wasted to a straw is this: perhaps the dawn breeze will carry (me) to your quarter, O friend.

5. Not once did you say "How are you faring with your ill-starred fortune?"; it seems you have not a mote of regard for Münîr, O friend.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the twenty-third of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 23). The metre is "mef‘ûlü mefâ‘îlü mefâ‘îlü fe‘ûlün". The refrain (redif) is "ey dost" (O friend); in the list of refrains in Ersoy's introduction tg 23 is cited with this refrain, and the same refrain is also used in the divan in tg 31. The rhyme is the sound "-er/-ar": naẓar, żar, güher, şeker, seḥer, meger. The word "żar" in the opening couplet is printed in the edition in this short form and is read in the sense of "zarar" (harm). The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 103b), Vienna (VY 84b) and Istanbul University (Ü 21b) manuscripts, and also in the anthologies of Pervâne Bey (PB 77a) and Nazmî of Edirne (MN 48a). According to the apparatus, PB reads "bī-çāreye" instead of "bī-çāreñe" in the opening couplet, and "Hergiz" (never) instead of "Bir kez" in the last couplet. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Every couplet of the ghazal ends with the address "ey dost", and this repetition gives the poem a tone of entreaty. In the opening couplet (matla) the lover sees himself as a helpless servant and the beloved as the king of the realm of beauty. By saying that a glance would cost the king nothing, he asks him for a small favour. This relation between servant and king is a well-known frame of divan poetry.

The second couplet is built on contrast. The treasure of the image has made the lover rich; but this wealth is the pearls, rubies and jewels that pour from his eyes. The pearl stands for white tears, the ruby for bloody tears. Thus the lover's weeping is shown like the pouring out of a treasure; in truth it is the sign of his poverty and pain.

In the third couplet "gül-bā-şeker" (rose-sugar) in its dictionary sense is a sweet made with rose petals and sugar. The lips are likened to rose-sugar because they are both red as the rose and sweet as sugar. The sick heart's taking delight in this sweet brings to mind the giving of sweet and light foods to the sick; this explanation is our own inference.

The fourth couplet is a poetic aetiology (hüsn-i talil). The lover's body has wasted to a straw; the poet ascribes this to the hope that the dawn breeze may carry him like a light straw to the beloved's quarter. Weakness ceases to be an affliction and becomes a way to union.

In the pen-name couplet "ṭāli‘-i naḥs" in its dictionary sense means ill fortune, an evil star. The lover complains that the beloved has not once asked how he is. There is a connection between "ẕerre" (mote) and "naẓar" (glance): not even a glance the size of a mote seen in sunlight has fallen to the lover. The PB reading "Hergiz" makes the complaint still harsher by saying "never".

Bibliography

Online sources