Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātün mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātün

Ben de yetişür idüm sen mihr-i meh-liḳāya
Cehd ile yetişeydi ger āftāba ṣāye
Lūlū dişüñle her dem la‘l-i lebüñi ṣorma
Nāzük-ṭabī‘at olan iñen döymez cefāya
Zülf-i siyāhuñ ucı yirde sürinür ey dost
Ser-menzil olmaz iken rūy-ı zemīn hümāya
Bu vech ile görüben mīm aġzuñı didi dil
‘Aḳs-i Sühāyı gör kim nice düşüpdür aya
Zülfüñ kesilmek ile baş ḳodı ḫaddüñ üzre
Gūyā yetişdi ‘arşa ḳaṭ‘ itmek ile pāye
Añunca la‘lüñi dil oldı revān revāne
Rūḥum gibi revān da mevḳūf imiş ṣılāya
Şeh-zāde-i cüvān-baḫt rūşen bu kim Münīrī
Nūr-ı dü çeşm-i cāndur her mīr ü gedāya

In English

1. Had the shadow been able by striving to reach the sun, I too would have reached you, the moon-faced sun.

2. Do not keep sucking (biting) your ruby lip with your pearl teeth at every moment; one of delicate nature cannot well endure cruelty.

3. O friend, the tip of your black locks trails on the ground; and yet the face of the earth is no resting place for the huma bird.

4. Seeing the mim-like (tiny) mouth in this face, the heart said: look how the reflection of the star Suha has fallen upon the moon.

5. When your locks were cut, they laid their head upon your cheek; it is as if, by being cut (by passing up the steps), their rank had reached the Throne of God.

6. On recalling your lip the heart set off flowing on its way; it seems that what goes, like my soul, also depends on reunion. (The couplet is unclear; besides reunion, the word "ṣıla" also means gift, bounty.)

7. Münîrî, it is plain that the young prince of fortune is the light of the soul's two eyes for every lord and every beggar.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a seven-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and ninety-fifth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 295). The metre is "mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātün mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātün". In the list of refrains in his introduction Ersoy gives the refrain of this ghazal as "-ye"; the rhyme rests on the long sound "-ā": meh-liḳā, āftāb, cefā, hümā, ay, pāye, ṣıla and gedā. The refrain appears in the forms "-ye" and "-ya" according to front and back vowels. The ghazal is found only in the Vienna manuscript (VY 165b); it is absent from the Vatican and Istanbul manuscripts. The edition records no variant readings.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet rests on an impossibility between shadow and sun. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "mihr" first as sun and figuratively as love, friendship; "mihr-i meh-likā" thus brings to mind both a moon-faced sun and a moon-faced beloved. However far the shadow runs it cannot reach the sun; nor can the lover reach the beloved.

A pun is hidden in the second couplet. The Kubbealtı gives two entries for the verb "sormak": one, in Old Turkish, to suck, to draw in by sucking, and the other to ask a question; the dictionary also notes that the two verbs go back to the same root. Münîrî says "la‘l-i lebüñi ṣorma": the beloved should not suck her ruby lip with her pearl teeth, for one of delicate nature cannot endure cruelty. The Kubbealtı explains "lü'lü" as pearl.

The third and fourth couplets are woven with images of the sky and of birds. The Kubbealtı explains "hümâ" (huma) as a legendary bird believed to live on Mount Kaf, whose shadow falling on a person was taken as a sign that the bird of fortune would alight on his head. The black locks are likened to this bird (our reading); it is unseemly for such a bird to trail on the ground. The Kubbealtı explains the star "Süha" (Suha) as the smallest star in the constellation of the Great Bear and records that the keenness of the eye was once tested by it. The beloved's mouth, small as the letter mim, is the reflection of this smallest of stars seen on the moon of the face. The phrase "bu vech ile" in the couplet can also be read in two ways through "vech", which the Kubbealtı explains both as face and as manner, way.

In the fifth couplet the word "kat'", for which the Kubbealtı gives the senses of cutting and of travelling, passing through, builds a double entendre (tevriye). The locks have been cut and have laid their head on the cheek; but the phrase "ḳaṭ‘ itmek ile pāye" means to pass up the steps and raise their rank to the Throne of God. The Kubbealtı explains "pâye" as rank, degree and step. In the sixth couplet the word "revān" is repeated; the Kubbealtı explains it as walking, going and flowing, and quotes Zâtî's line "Revân oldu benim cânım revân ardınca cânânın" (my soul went flowing after the beloved). The Kubbealtı has two separate entries for "sıla": one, reunion with one's homeland and kin, the other gift, bounty, the reward given to poets in return for their kasides. Which of these is meant in the couplet is not clear.

Historical Context

The pen-name couplet names "şeh-zāde-i cüvān-baḫt", that is, a young prince of fortune, and says that he is an equal light to lord and beggar. The prince's name is not given. Ersoy writes that Münîrî took part in the gatherings of Bayezid II and his son Prince Ahmed while they served as governors in Amasya; the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi likewise states that Münîrî won the favour of Bayezid II and of his son Prince Ahmed and entered the circle of their companions. The sources give no information as to which of these two princes, or whether another prince, this ghazal was written for; nor is it known when it was written.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Books

  • Kubbealtı Lugatı (Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük), entries "mihr", "sormak", "lü'lü", "hümâ", "Sühâ", "vecih", "katı'", "pâye", "revan" and "sıla". https://lugatim.com/s/sormak

Online sources