Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün fe‘ūlün

Ṣalup zülfüñ hevālar tāze tāze
Ḳılur başda hevālar tāze tāze
Yetişür hātif-i ġayb-ı ġamuñdan
Ḳulaġuma ṣadālar tāze tāze
Raḳībi seng-sār iderseñ ey dost
N’ola ire ‘aṭālar tāze tāze
Yüzümi dem-be-dem ‘arż itdigüm bu
Getürdüm keh-rübālar tāze tāze
Münīrī bāġ-ı ḥüsnüñ bülbülidür
Ki gösterür nevālar tāze tāze

In English

1. Your curl, swaying, stirs up fresh breezes (hevā, air), ever fresh; and in the head it rouses fresh desires (hevā, longing), ever fresh.

2. From the unseen herald (hâtif) of your grief, fresh voices, ever fresh, reach my ear.

3. O friend, if you stone the rival, what wonder if fresh gifts (rewards), ever fresh, should come.

4. The reason I present my face to you every moment is this: I have brought fresh ambers, ever fresh (my yellowed face is like amber).

5. Münîrî is the nightingale of the garden of your beauty, who offers fresh melodies, ever fresh.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and seventy-sixth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 276). The metre is "mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün fe‘ūlün". In the list of refrains in his introduction Ersoy gives the refrain of this ghazal as "tāze" (fresh); in the text the refrain is doubled as "tāze tāze". The rhyme rests on the sound "-ālar": hevālar (twice), ṣadālar, ‘aṭālar, keh-rübālar and nevālar. All the rhyme words carry the plural suffix and, together with the doubling "tāze tāze" in the refrain, give the ghazal a harmony built on repetition. The ghazal is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 163b). It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet is built on a cinas (pun). The Kubbealtı Lugatı notes that the word "hava" (air) comes from the Arabic "hevā’"; in its entry "hevâ" it gives the meanings of wish, desire, love, affection and the desire of the self. In the first line the "hevālar" stirred by the swaying curl are breezes; in the second the "hevālar" roused in the head are the desires of love. The same word has become rhyme in two senses.

The second couplet uses the word "hâtif", which the Kubbealtı explains as an angel who gives tidings as if calling from the unseen, quoting the phrase "hâtif-i gayb". The voices that reach the lover's ear come from the beloved's grief; grief here is like a voice that brings news from the unseen. In the third couplet the word "seng-sâr", which the Kubbealtı explains as putting to death by stoning, is turned upon the rival. It is said that the stoning of the rival will be met with reward; this phrasing calls to mind the stoning of Satan during the pilgrimage, which is counted a meritorious act (our reading).

The fourth couplet is an example of hüsn-i talil (poetic aetiology): the lover presents his face to the beloved every moment because it has turned yellow, and this yellow face is a gift of amber. The Kubbealtı notes that the word "kehribar" comes from the Persian "keh" (straw) and "rubā" (drawing), that the stone ranges in colour from pale yellow to red, and that when rubbed it draws light things to itself. The spelling "keh-rübā" in the edition shows this structure clearly. We think a link is made between amber that draws straw and the yellow face that wishes to draw the beloved to itself (our observation). In the pen-name couplet the word "nevâ", which the Kubbealtı explains both as melody, harmony and as portion, describes the nightingale's song. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among rose garden, nightingale and melody; the poet's offering of "fresh melodies, ever fresh" is also a reference to his own poetry (our reading).

Bibliography

Online sources