Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

‘Ayb itme deñersem yüzüñe ey gül-i ḫandān
Bes çāre ne elden ne gelür yoḳ göze zindān
Gözümde ġubār-ı ḫaṭ-ı reyḥānı ḫayāli
Gūyā ki sifāl içre biter başladı reyḥān
Cāy ideli gözümde ḫayāl-i leb-i şehdüñ
Kirpiklerüm olmışdur aña şöyle mekes-rān
Dil düşdi ṣaçuñ küfrine ammā dilerem kim
Ayruḳ daḫı düşmeye aña hīc müselmān
Yaşlu gözüm içinde ḫayāl-i lebüñ ey dost
Kān içre yatur ṣanki daḫı la‘l-i Bedaḫşān
Ger saña çaḳarsa baña da çaḳdı Münīrī
Şevḳ-ı ruḫ-ı yār ile girek odlara giryān

In English

1. O laughing rose, do not reproach me if my eye touches your face; what remedy is there, what can one do: there is no prison for the eye (the eye cannot be locked up).

2. In my eye is the image of the dust of your basil-like down; it is as if basil had begun to sprout in an earthen pot.

3. Ever since the image of your honeyed lip settled in my eye, my eyelashes have become a perfect fly whisk for it.

4. My heart has fallen into the unbelief (the darkness) of your hair; yet I pray that no Muslim ever falls into it again.

5. O friend, the image of your lip within my tearful eye is like a ruby of Badakhshan still lying within the mine.

6. Münîrî, if (the fire of love) has struck you, it has struck me too; come, let us go weeping into the fires with longing for the beloved's cheek.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a six-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and thirty-fifth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 235). The metre is "mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün". The ghazal has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme rests on "-ān": ḫandān, zindān, reyḥān, mekes-rān, müselmān, Bedaḫşān and giryān. The ghazal is found in all three divan manuscripts (VT 153b, VY 128b, Ü 51a). The edition's only variant reading is in the first line of the opening couplet: in VT the line begins "… itme naẓar eyler isem" (do not … if I look); the first word cannot be read because its special letters could not be printed in the apparatus. It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Every couplet of the ghazal is built on the eye. In the opening couplet the lover excuses his eye for touching the beloved's face: the eye cannot be put in prison. The phrasing has the air of an irsal-i mesel (a proverb-like saying). The words "ne çare, elden ne gelür" (what remedy, what can one do) are also a turn of phrase taken from everyday speech.

In the second and third couplets the eye is thought of as a flower pot and as a table. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "sifal" as an earthen vessel, pottery. The beloved's down (ḫaṭ) is likened to basil; when its image stays in the eye, it is as if basil had sprouted in the pot. The Kubbealtı explains "reyhan" as basil and also records a style of calligraphy called "reyhânî". In its entry "hat" the same dictionary gives, beside the sense of writing, the older sense of the beard and moustache newly appearing on the young, and names the phrase "hatt-ı reyhânî" as a kind of script. Because "ḫaṭ" means both the down on the cheek and writing, the phrase "ḫaṭ-ı reyḥān" also calls this script to mind (our observation). In the third couplet the lip is likened to honey and the eyelashes to a fly whisk; the Kubbealtı explains "meges – mekes" as fly. The link between honey and fly forms a congruence of images (tenasüp).

In the fourth couplet the locks and unbelief come together. The Kubbealtı writes that the word küfür (unbelief), which in Arabic also carries the sense of the darkness of night, was used in divan literature together with "zülf" to describe the blackness of the beloved's hair, and gives an example from Fuzûlî. The lover has fallen into this darkness, but he prays that no other Muslim should meet the same fate. There is a contrast (tezat) between unbelief and Muslim.

In the fifth couplet the tearful eye is likened to a mine and the image of the lip to the ruby within it. In its entry "la'l" the Kubbealtı quotes Fuzûlî's phrase "la'l-i bedahşân" (ruby of Badakhshan). In the couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) the poet addresses himself; the fire of love has struck them both, and entering the fire in tears sets up a contrast between tears and fire. To whom or to what the verb "çakmak" (to strike, to flash) is tied is not clear in the line; the words "the fire of love" in parentheses in the translation are our interpretation.

Bibliography

Online sources