Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Bir burc-ı şeref düşmedi ṭarf-ı külehüñce
Bir ṭāli‘-i sa‘d olmadı ruḫsār-ı mehüñce
Göñlüm ṭutalı zülf-i girih-gīrüñ etegin
Bād-ı seḥer ile yiler ol gerd-i rehüñce
Ey bād-ı ṣabā sen ḫod irersin şeb-i vaṣla
Bu āh u dem-i serd nedür ṣubḥ-gehüñce
‘Işḳ ile boyuñca günehe batduñ is’ey dil
Ġam yime ki her dem yanaram ben günehüñce
Ḫaddüñde görüp beñlerüñi didi Münīrī
Bir Hindū-yı muḳbil ḳanı ḫāl-i siyehüñce

In English

1. No tower of honour has ever matched the tip of your cap; no star of good fortune has risen like your moonlike cheek.

2. Since my heart grasped the skirt of your knotted curl, it runs with the dawn breeze like the dust of your path.

3. O morning breeze, you yourself reach the night of union; then what are these sighs and this cold breath of yours, like the hour of dawn?

4. O heart, if through love you have sunk in sin up to your full height, do not grieve; for every moment I burn in measure with your sin.

5. Seeing the moles on your cheek, Münîrî said: "Where is there a Hindu (slave) as fortunate as your black mole?"

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and fifty-third of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 253). The metre is "mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün". Ersoy's list of refrains gives the redif (refrain word) of this ghazal as "-üñce"; the rhyme rests on "-eh": küleh, meh, reh, ṣubḥ-geh, güneh and siyeh. The ghazal is found in all three divan manuscripts (VT 158a, VY 136a, Ü 53a). The edition's only variant reading is in the third couplet: "dem-i" appears in VY as "şeb-i"; with this reading the line means "these sighs and this cold night". It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet is built on images of the sky and the fortress. The Kubbealtı Lugatı gives "burç" as two separate entries: a defensive tower built on the walls of a fortress, and each of the twelve constellations of the zodiac. The tip of the beloved's cap is likened, in both senses together, to a fortress tower and to a sign in the sky; this is a double entendre (tevriye). The "ṭāli‘-i sa‘d" of the second line also comes from the language of astrology: the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "sa‘d" as auspicious and gives the phrase "kevkeb-i sa‘d" (a star held to be lucky). A congruence of images (tenasüp) is set up between sign, fortune, good omen and moon.

In the second couplet the "girih-gīr" curl, which the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains as knotted, tangled, has bound the lover's heart. The Kubbealtı gives "gerd" as dust, earth; the heart mingles with the dawn breeze and is blown about like the dust of the beloved's path. The third couplet is a reproach addressed to the dawn breeze. In its entry "dem" the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains the phrase "dem-i serd" as cold breath and quotes Kadı Burhâneddin's line "Visâl gecesinin subhu urdu bir dem-i serd" (the dawn of the night of union drew a cold breath); the morning after the night of union has heaved a cold breath. Münîrî likewise asks the dawn breeze, as one that reaches the night of union, where this cold breath, that is, this sigh, comes from. A link is made between the coolness of the morning breeze and the cold sigh of the despairing lover (our observation).

In the fourth couplet the word "güneh", which the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains as sin, is used twice. There is a play of measure between the suffixes in "boyuñca" (up to your height) and "günehüñce" (in measure with your sin): the heart has sunk in sin up to its height, and the poet burns in measure with its sin. In the pen-name couplet (mahlas) the word "Hindû", for which the Kubbealtı Lugatı records the old literary sense of a mole on the face or body, also calls to mind a person of India. The Kubbealtı explains "mukbil" as one whose fortune is bright, lucky, prosperous. The black mole sitting on the beloved's cheek is a lucky slave who has reached the highest place; there is also a contrast (tezat) between black and the bright cheek.

Bibliography

Online sources