Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Bir kez götürse mihr-i cemālüñ niḳābını
Mecmū‘ı ref‘ iderdi dü kevnüñ ḥicābını
Her geh ki zülfüñi görürem iki bükülüp
Ṭurmaz ḳılur müṭāla‘a ḥüsnüñ kitābını
Ẕerrāt-ı kevni gün gibi görür mu‘āyene
Küḥl-i cilā iden kişi izüñ türābını
‘Aḳl-ı ‘aḳīle ‘ışḳ ile ṭa‘n itdise saña
Var sen işüñde ol göñül aldı cevābını
Mihr-i ruḫuñdan ayru düşelden berü Münīr
Allāh bilür sitāre-i eşküm ḥisābını

In English

1. If the sun of your beauty were to lift its veil but once, it would lift the curtain of both worlds all at once.

2. Whenever (the heart) sees your locks bent double, it does not rest but pores over the book of your beauty.

3. One who takes the dust of your footprint as a brightening collyrium sees the motes of the world of being as plainly as the sun.

4. O heart, if prudent reason has reproached you for love, go and mind your own business; it has had its answer.

5. Münîr, ever since I was parted from the sun of your face, God alone knows the count of the stars of my tears.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and ninety-sixth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 296). 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 "-ını"; the rhyme rests on the sound "-āb": niḳāb, ḥicāb, kitāb, türāb, cevāb and ḥisāb. The ghazal is found in all three divan manuscripts (VT 168a, VY 145b, Ü 58a); the edition records no variant readings. It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal opens and closes with the image of the sun. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "mihr" as sun and figuratively as love; the "mihr-i cemāl" (sun of beauty) of the opening couplet and the "mihr-i ruḫ" (sun of the face) of the pen-name couplet tie the two ends of the ghazal together (our observation). In the opening couplet the beloved's beauty is a sun that, were it to lift its veil, would lift the curtain of both worlds at once. The Kubbealtı explains "kevneyn" as the two worlds and names them as this world and the hereafter, or the material and spiritual worlds. "Niḳāb" and "ḥicāb" are two words for the same notion of a veil.

In the second couplet a link is drawn between the locks and a book. On seeing the locks bent double, the heart sets to reading the book of beauty. This comparison can be understood in two ways: either the hair bent double is likened to the two sides of an open book, or the posture of a reader bending over the book is seen in the bending of the locks (both readings are ours).

The third couplet rests on the image of collyrium (kohl). The Kubbealtı explains "kühl" as collyrium and as eye medicine; among its examples is Vecîhî's line "Gubâr-ı rehgüzârın kühl edinsem dîde-i câna" (if I were to take the dust of your path as collyrium for the eye of the soul). The eye that takes the dust of the beloved's footprint as collyrium grows so keen that it sees the motes of the world of being one by one, as in a sunbeam. The Kubbealtı explains "zerrât" as motes and quotes Süleyman Çelebi's line "Cümle zerrât anın ile zindedir" (all the motes live through Him). The link between the sun and the mote is also supported by the couplet's comparison "like the sun".

The fourth couplet describes the dispute between reason and love. In the entry "ta'an" the Kubbealtı explains "ta'n" as to reproach, to impute a fault. Reason has reproached the heart for love, but the heart has paid it no heed, and reason has had its answer. In the phrase "‘Aḳl-ı ‘aḳīle" two words from the same root stand side by side; we understand "‘aḳīle" as "prudent, wise".

In the pen-name couplet the tears are likened to stars. The Kubbealtı explains "sitâre" as star; in the entry "şümar" it also records the phrase "sitâre-şümar" as one who counts the stars, figuratively one who cannot sleep. Only God knows the count of the star-like tears shed by the lover who cannot sleep on the nights of separation.

Bibliography

Online sources