Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Yoġ imiş bir naẓaruñ çünki dil-i ġam-zedeme
Her kişinüñ sözin işitme hele bārī neme
Ger dilerseñ ki feraḥ-nāk olasın bencileyin
Hem-dem ü yār ü ḥarīf ol göñül endūh u ġama
İrte sevdāsın unut gel bugüni ḫoş görelüm
Dem bu demdür kim irişmez daḫı bir dem bu deme
Bilmezem memleket-i dilde ne ḥāl oldı yine
Ki müjem nāme yazar ḫūn-ı dil ile ṣaneme
İnce bilüñ ṣıfatın nite ki yazmaḳ dilerem
Ḳıl gelür māni‘ olur yine zebān-ı ḳaleme
Ḫalḳ-ı ‘ālem nice gözlerse meh-i ‘īdi Münīr
Dikmişem ben de gözi şöyle bu ebrū-yı ḫama

In English

1. Since you evidently have not even a glance for my grief-stricken heart, at least do not listen to what everyone says; what is it to me? The couplet can be read in two ways: "do not listen to what everyone says about me", or "(since you do not look at me) what does it matter to me what anyone says".

2. O heart, if you wish to be cheerful like me, be the companion, friend and drinking fellow of sadness and grief.

3. Forget the cares of tomorrow; come, let us enjoy today; the moment is this moment, for no other moment will ever reach this one.

4. I do not know what has happened again in the realm of the heart, that my eyelash is writing letters in the heart's blood to that idol (the beauty).

5. Know that her qualities are so fine that, however much I wish to write them, a hair comes again and blocks the tongue (the nib) of the pen.

6. Münîr, just as the people of the world watch for the new moon of the feast, I too have fixed my eye thus on this curved eyebrow.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a six-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and fifty-sixth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 256). The metre is "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün". Ersoy's list of refrains gives the redif (refrain word) of this ghazal as "-E"; every couplet ends in the dative suffix. The rhyme rests on the sounds "-em, -am": ġam-zedeme, neme, ġama, deme, ṣaneme, ḳaleme and ḫama. The ghazal is found in all three divan manuscripts (VT 158b, VY 136b, Ü 54a); no variant readings are recorded in the edition. It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first three couplets of the ghazal are spoken in an advising voice close to everyday speech. The word "neme" in the opening couplet means "what is it to me"; the phrase "neme lâzım" (what need have I), explained in the Kubbealtı Lugatı's entry "nemelâzımcılık", is of the same pattern. The second couplet rests on a contrast (tezat): the lover sees the way to cheerfulness in befriending grief. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "endûh" as grief, sorrow, care, and "harîf" as an intimate companion, a fellow in drinking and merriment; the words "hem-dem", "yār" and "ḥarīf" follow one another and turn grief into a companion of the drinking party.

The third couplet is built on the word "dem". The Kubbealtı Lugatı records its senses of breath, time, moment and drink, and quotes Fuzûlî's line "Dem bu demdir bu demi hoş göre-gör ey ârif" (the moment is this moment; O knower, take this moment kindly). Münîrî's line "Dem bu demdür kim irişmez daḫı bir dem bu deme" shares the same turn of phrase with this line of Fuzûlî; the fourfold repetition of the word is the device of tekrir (repetition). In the fourth couplet the eyelash is the pen and the heart's blood the ink. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "sanem" as idol and, figuratively, a very beautiful person, a charmer; between "memleket-i dil" (the realm of the heart) and "nāme" (letter) there is also a suggestion of state and correspondence (our observation).

The fifth couplet is the subtlest conceit of the ghazal. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains the idiom "kıl gibi" (like a hair) as very thin. The beloved's qualities are so fine that when one tries to write them a hair catches on the pen's nib. The Kubbealtı explains "kalemgir" as the word for a reed pen's quality of gliding over the paper without catching; in the entry "dü" it notes that the phrase "dü zeban" (two-tongued) was used of the reed pen because its tip is split down the middle. The pen's "tongue" is its nib; a hair caught on it stops the writing. The link between "ince" (fine, thin) and "ḳıl" (hair) may also call to mind the beloved's waist, praised for its slenderness (our observation). The couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) uses the motif of "hilâl-i îd", which the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains as "the moon seen at the feast"; the same dictionary gives "ḫam" as crooked, bow-shaped, arched. As the people watch for the new moon of the feast, the lover has fixed his eye on the eyebrow curved like a crescent.

Bibliography

Online sources