Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Sünbüllerini deste ḳılup ey yüzi gül-şen
Ṣalmış yañaġuñ gülden iki yañada ḫırmen
Ṭutdısa vaṭan zülf-i ḫamuñda n’ola göñlüm
Elbette gerek her kişiye menzil ü mesken
Kimdür yüzüñüñ nūrına inkār iden ey dost
Ḫaddüñ gibi vechi var iken vāżıḥ u rūşen
Tīr-i seḥer-i āhumı gördi ḥaẕer idüp
Geydiyse felek ebr-i siyehden n’ola cevşen
Minnet Ḥaḳa kim şevḳ-ı nigār ile Münīrī
Bir oldı baña şimdiki dem gül-şen ü kül-ḫan

In English

1. O you whose face is a rose garden, you have gathered the hyacinths of your hair into bunches and heaped a harvest of roses on either side of your cheek (your cheeks red as a heap of roses, your hair like bunches of hyacinth).

2. If my heart has made its homeland in your curling locks, that is no wonder; surely every person needs a lodging and a dwelling.

3. O friend, who could deny the light of your face, when there is a face (a proof) as plain and bright as your cheek?

4. If heaven, seeing the arrow of my sigh at dawn, has taken care and put on a coat of mail of dark cloud, that is no wonder.

5. Thanks be to God that, through longing for the beloved, the rose garden and the furnace of the bathhouse have now become one for Münîrî.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and thirty-fourth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 234). The metre is "mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün". The ghazal has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme rests on "-en": gül-şen, ḫırmen, mesken, rūşen and cevşen. The last word of the couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas), "kül-ḫan", is read in this form in the edition and, as a rhyme word, matches "gül-şen" in sound. The ghazal is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 153b). It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet is a garden picture. The beloved's face is a rose garden, the hair hyacinth, the cheeks a heap of roses. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "hırmen" as a threshing heap; the heap of roses shows the redness of the cheeks, and the hyacinth gathered into bunches shows the hair falling to either side. There is a play of sound between "yañaġuñ" (your cheek) and "yañada" (on the side) (our observation).

The second couplet is built by way of irsal-i mesel (a proverb-like statement). The heart's taking the locks as its homeland is justified by the general statement of the second line: everyone needs a lodging, a dwelling. The curls of the locks are thought of as the rooms of a house. The same idea appears in the opening couplet of Ghazal 232 in the edition, where the heart likewise takes the beloved's two locks as its dwelling (ser-menzil) (our observation).

In the third couplet the word "vech" carries a double entendre (tevriye). Beside the sense of face, the Kubbealtı records for this word the senses of way and reason. In saying that the light of the beloved's face cannot be denied, the poet presents the cheek both as a plain face and as a plain proof. The adjectives "vāżıḥ u rūşen" (clear and bright) suit both senses.

The fourth couplet is an example of hüsn-i talil (fanciful aetiology). The sigh the lover heaves at dawn is an arrow shot at the sky. The sky's being covered with dark clouds is explained as a coat of mail put on to guard against this arrow. The Kubbealtı explains "cevşen" as armour woven of chain and scales and quotes couplets of Fuzûlî and Necâtî in which the arrow of prayer pierces the armour of heaven.

In the mahlas couplet a contrast (tezat) is set up between the rose garden and the furnace. The Kubbealtı explains "külhan" as the great furnace beneath the floor of a bathhouse. For the lover who lives in the fire of love, there is no longer any difference between the garden of beauty and the hearth of fire. The likeness of sound between "gül-şen" and "kül-ḫan" sharpens this contrast.

Bibliography

Online sources