Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ṭaşra düşer diyü sırrum eşk-i bī-pāyān ile
Gözümi dikmek diler dil sūzen-i müjgān ile
Bāde-i la‘l-i lebüñ ‘aḳsi düşelden gül-şene
Ġoncanuñ ṭoldı ṣurāḥī gibi baġrı ḳan ile
Ḫāne-i dilden ḫayālüñle n’ola cān gitdise
Gönderü çıḳmaḳ kişi ‘ādet durur mihmān ile
Ḳılma tīr-i ġamzeñi cānā ḥavāle cānuma
Ben ḫod anı saña virmek isterem biñ cān ile
Çārsū-yı ‘ışḳuñ içre bunca şi‘riyle Münīr
Bir gedādur ṣanki dervāze ider dīvān ile

In English

1. Lest my secret fall out (be revealed) through endless tears, the heart wishes to sew up my eye with the needle of the eyelashes.

2. Since the reflection of the ruby wine of your lip fell upon the rose garden, the breast of the bud has filled with blood like a flask.

3. What if the soul has left the house of the heart together with your image? It is the custom to go out with a guest to see him off.

4. My beloved, do not aim the arrow of your glance at my soul; I myself wish to give it to you with a thousand souls (most gladly).

5. In the bazaar of your love, with all his poems, Münîr is like a beggar who begs at the gate with his divan.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and seventy-ninth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 279). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". In the list of refrains in his introduction Ersoy gives the refrain of this ghazal as "ile" (with); the rhyme rests on the sound "-ān": bī-pāyān, müjgān, ḳan, mihmān, cān and dīvān. The ghazal is found in all three divan manuscripts (VT 164a, VY 139b, Ü 56b). The edition records several variant readings: in the opening couplet "düşer" appears in VT as "düşe", and "diler dil" as "dilerler"; in the third couplet "Gönderü" appears in VT and Ü as "Gönderi"; in the fourth couplet "biñ cān" (a thousand souls) appears in Ü as "yüz cān" (a hundred souls). These variants do not change the meaning. It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet rests on an old link between tears and the secret: tears betray the love the lover hides. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "sûzen" as needle. So that the secret should not come out, the heart sets about sewing up the eye with the needle of the eyelashes. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between the likening of the eyelash to a needle and the verb "dikmek" (to sew); we think the phrase "gözümi dikmek" also recalls the everyday idiom "gözünü dikmek" (to fix one's eyes on something) (our observation).

In the second couplet a likeness is drawn between the shape of the bud and the "sürahi", which the Kubbealtı explains as a long-necked vessel of glass or crystal. The ruby-coloured wine of the beloved's lip has been reflected upon the rose garden, and the closed bud has turned into a flask full of red wine. The filling of the bud's breast with blood is a hüsn-i talil (poetic aetiology) explaining its redness (our observation).

The third couplet rests on a custom of hospitality. The Kubbealtı explains "mihman" as guest, visitor. The image of the beloved is a guest in the house of the heart; since it is the custom for the host to see a departing guest to the door, the soul has gone out with it and left. The departure of the soul is death; the lover tells of his death as a matter of courtesy. The fourth couplet uses the word "havâle", which the Kubbealtı explains as swinging or directing something towards someone: since the lover is already ready to give his soul with a thousand souls, he sees no need for the arrow of the glance to be aimed at it.

The pen-name couplet brings together "çârsû", which the Kubbealtı explains as bazaar, "gedâ", beggar, and "dîvân". The Kubbealtı gives "dervâze" as the great entrance gate of cities and fortresses; the same dictionary explains "deryûze" as begging and quotes from Latîfî's tezkire the example "çarşılarda deryûze ederdi" (he would beg in the bazaars). We therefore think the sense of begging comes to the fore in the phrase "dervāze ider" (our observation). "Dîvân" here is the poet's collection of poems; the poet resembles a beggar in the bazaar of love who opens his divan and begs for attention.

Bibliography

Online sources