Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Geldiyse ḫayālüñ dile gelmekdür irādet
Gitmekde ‘icāzet bizüm olmaġ ola ‘ādet
Ḳılsañ n’ola men ḫaste içün ḳaṣd-ı ‘ıyādet
Olur kerem ehline ‘ıyādet daḫı ‘ādet
Vaṣf itdügümi işidüben ḳaşı hilālin
Götürdi hemān māh-ı nev engüşt-i şehādet
Zülf-i siyehüñe düşeliden delü göñlüm
Bir laḥẓa daḫı görmemişem elde irādet
Sen ‘Īsī-demüñ yolına virsem n’ola cānı
Çün ölmek içün olmış imiş aṣl-ı vilādet
Oldıysa Münīrī ḳuluña kūyuñ iti yār
Yār oldı aña devlet ü iḳbāl ü sa‘ādet

In English

1. If your image has come to the heart, it is its own will to come; but let the leave to go be ours to give, let that be our custom.

2. What if you were to intend a sick-visit to me, the sick one; visiting the sick is also the custom of the generous.

3. When it heard me praising the crescent of your eyebrow, the new moon at once raised its finger of witness (in assent).

4. Since my mad heart fell into your black tresses, it has not for a moment seen its will in its own hand.

5. O you with the breath of Jesus, what if I give my life on your path; for the very root of birth, it seems, is to die.

6. If the dog of your quarter has become a friend to your servant Münîrî, then fortune, prosperity and felicity have become his friends.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a six-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the twenty-seventh of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 27). The metre is "mef‘ûlü mefâ‘îlü mefâ‘îlü fe‘ûlün". The ghazal has no refrain (redif); the rhyme is the sounds "-ādet": irādet, ‘ādet, ‘ıyādet, şehādet, vilādet, sa‘ādet. The words "irādet" and "‘ādet" each rhyme twice. Both lines of the second couplet rhyme, and the couplet stands like a second opening couplet. The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 104b) and Vienna (VY 85b) manuscripts. According to the apparatus the first couplet is missing in the Vatican manuscript; VY reads "ne bu" instead of "n'ola" in the fifth couplet. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet (matla) treats the beloved's image like a guest. The image has come to the heart of its own will; but the leave for it to go is in the heart's hands, and the lover wishes to make it a custom never to give this leave. We have understood the line in this way; the word "‘icāzet" in its dictionary sense means permission. The couplet expresses the wish never again to let the visiting image go.

In the second couplet there is a resemblance of sound between "‘ıyādet" (visiting the sick) and "‘ādet" (custom), and the two words rhyme side by side; this pun (cinas) is our own observation. Visiting the sick is a well-known act of the generous; the lover asks the beloved to follow this custom of generosity.

The third couplet is a fine poetic aetiology (hüsn-i talil). "Engüşt-i şehādet" in its dictionary sense is the finger of witness, that is, the index finger. The thin, curved new moon resembles a raised finger. The poet explains this appearance of the crescent by its hearing the lover praise the eyebrow and raising its finger in assent. The likeness between crescent and eyebrow also strengthens the praise.

In the fourth couplet the tresses are a chain, and the mad heart has fallen into this chain. In divan poetry madmen are put in chains; the madman in chains has no will of his own left. The phrase "elde irādet" (will in hand) suggests holding the will in the hand like a thing.

In the fifth couplet the beloved is called "‘Īsī-dem" (having the breath of Jesus). The breath of Jesus raises the dead; the lover therefore does not shrink from giving him his life. There is a contrast between "vilādet" (birth) and "dying", and the second line carries the general judgement that everyone born is born to die.

In the pen-name couplet the word "yār" (friend) occurs twice. That the dog in the beloved's quarter should become a friend to the lover counts for him as great fortune. The words "devlet", "iḳbāl" and "sa‘ādet" are words close in meaning, and they enlarge the happiness step by step.

Bibliography

Online sources