Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Kimdür eyden göñüle la‘l-i lebinden dileme
Ḥasret ile lebe cān irse dimez kim dil eme
La‘l-i nābuñ bu göñül derdine emdür diyeli
Hīc vech ile cihānda ṭaleb itmez dil eme
Göz yaşı ḫāk-i derüñden yaña gitdükçe müdām
Ḫāk-i pāyüñce bile gitmek içündür dil eme
Bāde-i la‘l-i lebüñ ḥasretiyile niçe bir
Ṭıfl-ı gehvāre gibi ḫūn-ı cigerden dil eme
Ġamzesi baġrumı deldi ṣorıcaḳ ḥāl-i dili
Didi iversin ola mı anı daḫı dileme
Hīc nesnem yoḳ anuñ la‘line irmege Münīr
Veh ki yoḳluḳda ḳatı müşkil olurmış dileme

In English

1. Who is it that tells the heart, "Do not wish for anything from her ruby lip"? When the soul comes up to the lip with longing (that is, when one is about to die), no one says "do not wish" (we read the "dil eme" at the end of the line here as "dileme", do not wish; the reading is ours).

2. Ever since your pure ruby lip was named as the em (remedy) for this heart's pain, the heart (dil) has in no way sought any other em, any other remedy, in the world.

3. If my tears keep flowing towards the dust of your door, it is out of the wish to go along with you as far as the dust of your feet (the refrain is understood here as "dileme", wishing, desiring; the reading is not certain).

4. How long, longing for the ruby wine of your lip, must I suck my tongue on the blood of my liver like a baby in its cradle? (The baby sucking its tongue is likened to the lover feeding on the blood of his liver; the reading is ours.)

5. When I asked about the state of the heart, her glance pierced my breast; she said, "Let it hurry, then; but can that be? Do not wish for that either" (the couplet is obscure; the rendering is our reading).

6. Münîr, I have nothing with which to reach her ruby lip; alas, wishing (begging) turns out to be very hard in poverty.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a six-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and sixtieth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 260). The metre is "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün". The number of this ghazal does not appear in Ersoy's list of refrains. Every couplet ends with the same cluster of sounds, written in the edition sometimes joined as "dileme" and sometimes separated as "dil eme"; because this cluster is drawn to a different meaning in each couplet, the whole ghazal is built on a rhyme scheme made entirely of puns (our observation). The ghazal is found in the VT (159b) and VY (133a) manuscripts. According to the edition's apparatus, the word "pāyüñce" in the third couplet appears in VT as "pāyince". It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The TDV article states that Münîrî had mastered the pun (cinas) and applied all its varieties successfully. This ghazal is one of the clearest examples of that. The cluster of sounds in the rhyme position can be resolved in three different ways: the Persian "dil" (heart) joined to "em", which the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains from Old Turkish and popular speech as medicine, cure, remedy; the negative imperative or the verbal noun of "dilemek", which the Kubbealtı gives as to wish to attain something, to desire; and finally the tongue (dil) in the mouth combined with the verb "emmek" (to suck). Which of these readings is meant in each couplet is not always certain; in the translation above we have indicated the readings we prefer.

The second couplet shows the pun most clearly: the beloved's lip has been named as the em, the remedy, for the heart's pain; so the heart seeks no other em. Here "dil eme" can be read both as "the heart, to a remedy" and as "dileme", and the two senses arrive at the same place. In the first couplet "cān lebe irmek", the soul's coming up to the lip, describes the moment of death; no one tells a dying man to give up his wish.

In the fourth couplet the lover is likened to a baby in its cradle. As a baby comforts itself by sucking its tongue, so the lover, deprived of the wine on the beloved's lip, feeds on the blood of his liver. The idea of liver's blood as the lover's food is a frequent image in divan poetry; the comparison with the baby brings a scene from everyday life into the couplet (our interpretation).

The fifth couplet is obscure. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains the verb "ivmek" in Old Turkish and popular speech as to hurry, to run; the word "iversin" appears to derive from this verb. The beloved's answer can be read both as a mocking permission and as a warning that cuts off hope. The pen-name couplet links poverty and begging: for the lover who has nothing, wishing comes to the same thing as begging; the senses of wanting and requesting in the Kubbealtı's entry "dilemek" take on a second meaning here.

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