Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Her kim oldı ser-ḫoş u lā-ya‘ḳıl-i bezm-i elest
Ey dil olursa ‘aceb mi tā-ebed ‘ālemde mest
Hīc ġayr ez-māhī-i ḳadret ne-mī-āyed birūn
Baḥr-i dil-rā ez-ḫayāl endāḫtem bisyār şest
Ṭut ki olmışsın Süleymān-ı cihānı ‘ālemüñ
Cehd aña ḳıl k’olmaya bir mūrçe senden şikest
Tā-ki ān çeşm-i mükeḥḥal-rā ki dīdem ġamzeeş
Tīr zed ber-sīne-i men tā-be-ṣūfāreş nişest
Ẕevḳ-ı dünyāya Münīrī baġlamaġıl göñlüñi
Ḫod bilürsin kim meges bal içre olur pāy-best

In English

1. O heart, if one who became drunk and lost his reason at the banquet of "Alast" stays drunk in the world until eternity, is that any wonder?

2. Many a time I cast the line of imagination into the sea of the heart; nothing came up on it but the fish of your worth.

3. Suppose you have become the Solomon of the world; strive that not even an ant be hurt by you.

4. Ever since I saw that eye lined with collyrium, its sidelong glance has shot such arrows into my breast that they sank in up to their nocks.

5. Münîrî, do not bind your heart to the pleasure of the world; you know well that the fly in honey is left with its feet bound.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet ghazal (gazel) and is the twenty-ninth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 29). It is written in mixed Turkish and Persian: Ersoy gives in the apparatus the meaning of the second and fourth couplets, since these two couplets are Persian; the other three couplets are Turkish. In rendering the Persian couplets, Ersoy's meanings have been taken as the basis, while the wording is our own. The metre is "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The ghazal has no refrain (redif); the rhyme is the sound "-est": elest, mest, şest, şikest, nişest, pāy-best. When describing the kinds of rhyme, Ersoy gives the opening couplet of this ghazal among the examples of kafiye-i mukayyede, rhyme in which another consonant (the kayd letter) stands before the rhyme letter. The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 105a) and Vienna (VY 85a) manuscripts. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal opens with a Sufi drunkenness and closes with the counsel not to be bound to the world. The "bezm-i elest" (banquet of Alast) of the opening couplet (matla) is the gathering at which souls in pre-eternity said "Yes" to God's question "Am I not your Lord?"; this question occurs in the Qur'an (al-A‘rāf 7:172). In divan poetry this gathering is thought of as a drinking banquet. One who grew drunk at that banquet does not sober up in the world either, until eternity. There is a contrast of pre-eternity and eternity between "elest" and "tā-ebed" (until eternity).

The second couplet is in Persian. The heart is likened to a sea, imagination to a fishing line. The lover has cast his line into this sea many times, but has brought up nothing but the fish of the beloved's worth. Ersoy too understands the couplet in this way. The words sea, line and fish form a congruence of images (tenasüp); it is said that nothing but the beloved is to be found in the heart.

The third couplet alludes (telmih) to the story of Solomon and the ant. In the Qur'an (al-Naml 27:18) an ant warns the other ants so that they may not be crushed by Solomon's army; this link is our own observation. The poet says that even if a man were the ruler of the world, he ought not to hurt the smallest living thing. "Mūrçe" in its dictionary sense means ant. This couplet is a couplet of counsel that departs from the ghazal's mood of love.

The fourth couplet is again in Persian. The eye lined with collyrium and the sidelong glance (ġamze) are like an archer; the arrows sink into the breast up to their "ṣūfār". "Ṣūfār" in its dictionary sense is the notched rear end of the arrow that sits on the bowstring, that is, the nock. Ersoy too gives the meaning with the word "gez" (nock). The arrow's sinking in up to its nock expresses the depth of the wound.

In the pen-name couplet the comparison of honey and the fly is used. The fly that lands on honey, carried away by its sweetness, cannot free its feet; one who binds his heart to the pleasure of the world falls into the same state. This comparison makes the couplet a use of a proverb (irsal-i mesel). The ghazal thus begins with the drunkenness of Alast and ends with a counsel that warns against the pleasure of the world.

Bibliography

Online sources