Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün

Zülfüñ ḫayāli gireli bir gice seyrine
Şeh-bāz-ı sidre irmedi dil murġı seyrine
Dīvāne olsa n’ola bilüñ birle ṭıfl-ı dil
Girmiş ḳara ṣaçuñ yine dün gice seyrine
Engüşt-i ġayret ile revān çıḳarur göñül
Nā-geh yañılup itse naẓar dīde ġayrine
Bir kez ki yol bulup çıḳasın tā ki ey göñül
Girme fenā ḫarābesinüñ yine deyrine
Çoḳdan helāk iderdi Münīr āteş-i firāḳ
Ḳurtulmasaydum iki gözüm yaşı ḫayrına

In English

1. Since the image of your curl entered (the heart's) night journey one night, not even the royal falcon of the Sidre has been able to reach the flight of the bird of the heart.

2. What if the child of the heart goes mad "bilüñ birle"? Your black hair went out strolling (entered the heart) again last night. (We could not interpret the phrase "bilüñ birle" with certainty; if "bil" is read as "bel", it gives "together with your waist", but this reading could not be verified.)

3. Should the eye by mistake suddenly look at another, the heart plucks it out at once with the finger of jealousy.

4. O heart, once you have found the way and got out, do not enter again the cloister of the ruin of transience (fenâ, the passing world).

5. The fire of separation would long since have destroyed Münîr, had I not been saved thanks to the tears of my two eyes.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and seventy-seventh of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 277). The metre is "mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün". In the list of refrains in his introduction Ersoy gives the refrain of this ghazal as "seyrine". In the text "seyrine" occurs only in the first two couplets, three times; the later couplets end with ġayrine, deyrine and ḫayrına. Accordingly the rhyme may also be thought to rest on the sound "-yr" and the refrain on the suffix "-ine" (our observation). The ghazal is found in all three divan manuscripts (VT 163b, VY 139a, Ü 56a). The edition records two variant readings: in the third couplet a variant is given for VY, but since a special letter could not be printed in the edition the variant cannot be read; the "tā ki" of the fourth couplet appears in VT as "nā-geh" (suddenly). It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet brings together images of night, journey and ascent. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "sidre" as the station in the seventh heaven to which the Prophet Muhammad ascended with Gabriel on the night of the Ascension (miraç) and, in Sufism, as the last halting place of human reason; it gives "şahbaz" as a large white falcon and "mürg" as bird. When the image of the curl entered the heart one night, the bird of the heart rose so high that not even the falcon of the Sidre can reach its flight. The coming together of "bir gice seyr" (a night journey) and "sidre" calls to mind the night of the Ascension (our observation). In the second couplet the heart is likened to a child through the word "tıfl", which the Kubbealtı explains as small child; when the black hair goes out strolling at night, the child of the heart goes mad. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between the blackness of the hair and the blackness of the night.

In the third couplet the word "engüşt", which the Kubbealtı explains as finger, is joined with "gayret". Beside the meaning of effort, the same dictionary gives "gayret" the sense of being unable to bear seeing strangers lay hands on something dear and sacred. The heart cannot bear the eye's looking at anyone other than the beloved, and plucks it out. There is a cinas (pun) resting on the closeness of sound between "ġayret" (jealousy) and "ġayr" (another) (our observation).

The fourth couplet uses the word "deyr", which the Kubbealtı explains as monastery, church, tavern and, in Sufism, this world; the same dictionary gives "harâbe" as ruin. The deyr of the ruin of transience is the passing world; the heart that has once escaped it should not return there. The pen-name couplet contains the contrast of fire and water: the fire of separation was about to burn the poet, but his tears saved him. We understand the word "ḫayrına" as "thanks to".

Bibliography

Online sources