Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ölmişem ḳan yuṭuban la‘l-i dür-efşānuñ içün
Merdüm-i dīde beni ḳan ile yur anuñ içün
Ṣadef-i dīde yaşum baḥrini idindi vaṭan
Dür dökem diyü leb-i la‘l-i dür-efşānuñ içün
Serv dīvār aşar u yol gözedür şām u seḥer
İntiẓār ile ṭurup ḳadd-i ḫırāmānuñ içün
Ḫāk-i pāyına ne söz āb-ı ḥayāt olduġına
Ey dil anı getüregör ele öz cānuñ içün
Ġam degül yaḫañı yırtarsa göñül dest-i sitem
Rişte-i zülf yeter çāk-i girībānuñ içün
Ṣınmasun dir ise dendānı ṣaçuña ṭolaşup
Şāne diş bilemesün zülf-i perīşānuñ içün
Ġam yimez tīr-i ḫadengüñ ne ḳadar yirse Münīr
Līkin āḫir ḳalıcaḳ sīnede peykānuñ içün

In English

1. I have died swallowing blood for your pearl-scattering ruby lip; that is why the pupil of the eye (the "man of the eye") washes me with blood.

2. The oyster-shell of the eye has made the sea of my tears its homeland, so as to scatter pearls for your pearl-scattering ruby lip.

3. The cypress climbs over the walls and watches the road evening and dawn, standing in wait for your swaying stature.

4. There is no question that the dust of his foot is the water of life; O heart, try to get it into your hands for your own soul's sake.

5. O heart, no matter if the hand of cruelty tears your collar; a thread of [the beloved's] lock is enough to mend the rent in your collar.

6. If the comb says "let not its teeth break, tangling in your hair", let it not sharpen its teeth (bear a grudge) against your dishevelled locks.

7. However many of your arrows Münîr takes, he does not grieve; but in the end [he grieves] for the arrowhead that will remain in his breast.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a seven-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and thirtieth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 230). The metre is "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "içün" (for); in the list of redifs in his introduction (p. 9) Ersoy places this ghazal among those with the redif "içün". The rhyme rests on "-ānuñ": dür-efşānuñ, anuñ, dür-efşānuñ, ḫırāmānuñ, cānuñ, girībānuñ, perīşānuñ and peykānuñ. The expression "leb-i la‘l-i dür-efşān" (pearl-scattering ruby lip) is repeated in the opening and second couplets. The ghazal is found in all three divan manuscripts (VT 152b, VY 128a, Ü 50b) and in the Pervâne Bey anthology (PB 435b). According to the apparatus the fifth and sixth couplets are missing from PB. It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet is built like a death scene. The lover has died swallowing blood for the beloved's lip, and the pupil of the eye washes him with blood. The Kubbealtı Lugatı records that "merdüm" means both man, human being, and the pupil of the eye; "merdüm-i dīde" is the pupil of the eye but can also be understood as "the man of the eye". The bloody tears are imagined as the water of one who washes the dead (our observation). In the second couplet the eye resembles an oyster-shell, the tears a sea and the drops pearls; these pearls are to be scattered as an offering at the pearl-scattering lip. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among eye, sea, oyster-shell, pearl and lip. In the third couplet the cypress is a watchman looking at the road over the walls to see the beloved's swaying stature. This way of explaining the cypress's height, tall enough to rise above the wall, by its waiting is a hüsn-i talil (poetic aetiology). In the fourth couplet the water of life and the dust of the foot are brought together. In its entry "âb" (water) the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains the phrase "âb-ı bekā" as the water of eternity, the water of life. A contrast (tezat) is set up between water and dust, and the water that grants immortality is found in the dust of the beloved's foot.

The fifth and sixth couplets are built around the locks. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "rişte" as thread, yarn; even if the hand of cruelty tears the collar, a single hair of the beloved is enough to sew it up. A torn collar, as the Kubbealtı Lugatı's entry "girîban-çâk" also shows, is the sign of deep grief. In the sixth couplet the comb (şāne) is made to speak. In its entry "şâne" the Kubbealtı Lugatı gives as an example Tıflî's lines "Ey şâne ser-i zülf-i perîşâna dokunma / Tel kırma" (O comb, do not touch the tip of the dishevelled lock; do not break a hair); Münîrî tells the comb in similar language not to touch the dishevelled hair. The idiom "diş bilemek" in the couplet is a double entendre (tevriye). The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains this idiom as watching for a chance to do harm and take revenge; here it is used both in this figurative sense and in the literal sense of the comb's teeth. The same idiom occurs in the opening couplet of Münîrî's ghazal tg 225. In the couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) the verb "yemek" (to eat) is used twice: Münîr "eats" (takes) the arrows but does not "eat grief". The Kubbealtı Lugatı counts "gam yemek" (to grieve) among the idioms formed with "yemek". According to the same dictionary "peykân" is the pointed iron at the tip of the arrow, the arrowhead. The second line of the couplet is tersely put; the poet's grief is for the arrowhead that will stay in his breast, or, because of that arrowhead, a token of the beloved will in the end remain in his breast (our observation).

Bibliography

Online sources