Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Āḫir olup ḳalmadan bu ḥasret ey dil yarına
Diyeler mi kim fülān irişdi bugün yārına
Ḫaṭṭ-ı sebz ile leb-i la‘lüñ görüp didi göñül
Ṣanki ṭūṭīdür ṭurur şekker alup minḳārına
La‘l-i nābuñ ḳanumı dökem dir idi raḥm idüp
Ḫaṭṭ-ı jengāruñ meger ḥüccet yazar iḳrārına
Yiter ol devlet baña dünyāda k’ey dil her gice
Göz gözi görince yüzüm sürerüm dīvārına
Derd-i ‘ışḳ-ı yārda hīc eksügüñ yoḳdur Münīr
Ḥaḳ mezīd itsün dir iseñ şükr eyle varına

In English

1. O heart, before this longing ends by being put off until tomorrow, will they ever say, "So-and-so was united with his beloved today"?

2. Seeing your green down together with your red lip, the heart said, "It is as if a parrot stood there holding sugar in its beak."

3. Your pure ruby lip used to say, out of pity, "Let me shed his blood"; it seems your verdigris-green down was writing a hüccet (a court document) for that confession (the place of "raḥm idüp", out of pity, in the line is not entirely clear; the rendering is our reading).

4. O heart, this fortune is enough for me in the world: every night, until eye can see eye (until the morning grows light), I rub my face against her wall.

5. Münîr, you lack nothing in the pain of love for the beloved; if you say "May God increase it", be grateful for what you have.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and sixty-fifth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 265). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The number of this ghazal does not appear in Ersoy's list of refrains. The couplet endings meet in the sound "-ārına": "yarına, yārına, minḳārına, iḳrārına, dīvārına, varına"; the suffix "-ına" serves as the redif (refrain) and the sound "-ār" as the rhyme (our observation). The ghazal is found in all three divan manuscripts (VT 161a, VY 137b, Ü 55a) and in the Pervâne Bey Anthology (PB 521a). According to the edition's apparatus, in the opening couplet "ḳalmadan" appears in PB as "ḳalmadı", and "ḥasret ey dil" as "ḥasret-i dil". It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet is built on a pun (cinas) arising from the closeness of sound between "yarın" (tomorrow) and "yār" (beloved). The lover's longing is a longing for a union put off every day until tomorrow; the poet asks about the day when this longing will end and people will say, "So-and-so was united with his beloved today." There is also a contrast between tomorrow and today. In the second couplet the green down around the beloved's lip and the red lip are likened to a parrot holding sugar in its beak. The parrot's green feathers correspond to the down and the sugar to the sweetness of the lip; colour and taste join in one simile.

The third couplet is built on a double entendre (tevriye) drawn from the language of law. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "hüccet" as proof, document, and the official document drawn up by the judges of the sharia courts, and "jengâr" as rust, copper rust, verdigris. In divan poetry the word "ḫaṭ" means both writing and the down on the face; combining the two senses, the poet likens the green down on the face to a court document registering the lip's declaration, "I shall shed his blood." There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between confession, hüccet and writing.

In the fourth couplet the lover's only fortune in the world is to rub his face against the beloved's wall at night. The Kubbealtı Lugatı gives the idiom "göz gözü görmemek" (eye cannot see eye) for a state in which nothing can be seen because of mist, darkness or smoke; we understand the "göz gözi görince" of the couplet as its opposite, until it grows light enough to see (our reading). The rubbing of the face, a gesture of reverence and devotion, goes on from night until morning.

The pen-name couplet sets up a new play of sound between "yār" (beloved) and "var" (what one has). The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains the phrase "mezîd etmek" as to increase, to multiply. The lover admits that he lacks nothing in the pain of love; the pain is seen as a blessing, and whoever wants this blessing to increase must be grateful for what he has. Resting on the belief that gratitude for a blessing increases it, the saying carries the attitude of the rind, turning the pain of love into an occasion for thanks (our interpretation).

Bibliography

Online sources