Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün

Yā Rab ol ṭāli‘ nedendür kākül-i Hindūsına
Her gice yār anı almışdur yatar pehlūsına
Rūz-ı maḥşerde varur her kişi dest-āvīz ile
Ben de anuñ-çün yapışdum ḥalḳa-i gīsūsına
Şāḫ-ı gül ḳaddüñ hevāsıyla delürmişdür meger
Ġonca heykel yazup anuñ baġladı bāzūsına
Fikr-i dünyāyı unutduġı lebüñ şevḳıyla dil
Hīc añılur mı cihān düşülse cān ḳayġusına
Uyumaz nergis güneşde bes anuñ-çün çeşm-i yār
Vardı yüzinde Münīrī sāye-i ebrūsına

In English

1. O Lord, whence comes this fortune of his dark Hindu forelock, that every night the beloved takes it and lies down with it at his side?

2. On the Day of Judgement everyone comes with something to hold on to (and with a gift); that is why I have clung to the ring of his hair.

3. The rosebud must have gone mad with love for your stature like a rose branch, for it has written an amulet and bound it on that branch's arm.

4. With longing for your lip the heart has forgotten all thought of the world; when one has fallen into fear for one's life, is the world ever remembered?

5. The narcissus does not sleep in the sun; Münîrî, that is why the beloved's eye has gone to the shadow of the brow upon his face (has taken refuge in its shade).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and forty-fourth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 244). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". In the redif list of his introduction Ersoy gives the redif (refrain word) of this ghazal as "-sına"; in the fourth couplet the suffix appears again in the form "-sına" in the word "ḳayġusına". The rhyme rests on "-ū / -u": Hindū, pehlū, gīsū, bāzū, ḳayġu and ebrū. Besides the three divan manuscripts (VT 155b, VY 135a, Ü 52a), the ghazal is also found in the Pervâne Bey anthology (PB 523a); the edition shows no variant readings. It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In the opening couplet the lover envies the beloved's forelock. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "Hindû" as a person from the people of India and records that in older literature it was used for a mole on the face or body; here the adjective conveys the blackness of the forelock. That the dark forelock lies every night beside the beloved seems to the lover a very high fortune. The opposition between the word "ṭāli‘" (fortune) and the dark Hindu is the wit of the couplet (our observation).

In the second couplet the word "dest-āvīz" carries a double entendre (tevriye). The Kubbealtı explains "dest-âviz" as a gift given by an inferior to a superior, a small gift, and notes that the word is formed with the Persian "āvīz" (hanging). On the Day of Judgement everyone comes with a gift in hand, and at the same time with something to hold on to. The lover too has clung to the ring of the beloved's hair; the ring of hair becomes both gift and handhold (our observation).

The third couplet is an example of hüsn-i talil (fanciful aetiology). As an older sense of "heykel" the Kubbealtı gives an amulet hung around the neck against the evil eye and quotes an example from Mesîhî. The closed, folded shape of the rosebud on the branch is likened to an amulet bound on the arm of one who has gone mad. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between "delürmek" (to go mad) and "heykel" (amulet); the rose branch here is the beloved's stature, and the bud's binding the amulet on its arm is a sign of its love-madness.

In the fourth couplet the phrase "cān ḳaygusı" (fear for one's life) describes how a person who has fallen into mortal danger forgets all other troubles. The phrasing has the air of an irsal-i mesel (a proverb-like saying): love is a care for life great enough to make the heart forget the world.

In the couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) the well-known likeness between the eye and the narcissus becomes a reason. The Kubbealtı records that "nergis" means figuratively the beloved's eye, and that "ebrû" means brow. Because the narcissus does not sleep in the sun, the beloved's eye has withdrawn into the shadow of the brow; the languid eye beneath the brow is thus explained. According to the Kubbealtı "münir" means illuminating, giving light; a link may be drawn between the sun and the pen name "Münīrī" (our observation).

Bibliography

Online sources