Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Gördüm cemāli gül-şeninüñ murġ-zārını
İñletmek imiş işi hemān murġ-ı zārını
Bād-ı ṣabāyile dili var egridür diyü
Aṣmış yüzinde ḥüsn ilinüñ perde-dārını
Ḫāk-i reh olmaḳ istedügi göñlümüñ bu kim
Gördi türāba düşdüginüñ aġzı yarını
Ḳorsam yolında esterinüñ n’ola başumı
Gül-zār-ı ḥüsnüñüñ giderür küllī ḫārını
Şemşīr-i ‘ışḳuñ ile şehīd olmaġın Münīr
Tīġ ile ṭutdı sūsen anuñ hep mezārını

In English

1. I saw the bird-haunted corner of the rose garden of beauty; its task, it seems, was at once to make the moaning bird moan. ("Murġ-zār" in the first line means a place full of birds; "murġ-ı zār" in the second means a moaning bird.)

2. Saying that the lock is hand in glove with the zephyr and that it is crooked, (the beloved) has hanged the chamberlain of the realm of beauty (the lock) on her face.

3. The reason my heart wishes to become the dust of the road is this: it has seen that the mouth of one who falls to the dust reaches the beloved (the beloved's foot). (The line is difficult; this reading is ours.)

4. What if I were to lay my head on the path of her mule; (my head) would clear away all the thorns from the rose garden of your beauty.

5. Because Münîr was martyred by the sword of your love, the iris has surrounded his whole grave with swords.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and ninety-ninth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 299). 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 "-ār": murġ-zār, murġ-ı zār, perde-dār, yār, ḫār and mezār. The ghazal is found in all three divan manuscripts (VT 168b, VY 142b, Ü 60b); the edition records no variant readings. It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet is built on a pun. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains the Persian "mürg" as bird and gives "mürg-zâr" as a place full of birds, a haunt of birds. The first line ends in "murġ-zār" (a place full of birds) and the second in "murġ-ı zār" (a moaning bird); the same sounds form a single word in one line and two words in the other (our observation). The TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi notes that Münîrî applied every kind of pun with success. The bird that moans in the rose garden of beauty is the heart of the lover, who moans like the nightingale (our reading).

In the second couplet the lock is thought of as a palace official. The Kubbealtı explains "perdedar" as one who formerly waited at a great man's door and drew aside the door curtain for those who were to enter, a doorkeeper. Because the lock hangs like a curtain before the face, it is the chamberlain of the realm of beauty. The beloved has "hanged" it on her face on the charge that it has secretly come to terms with the zephyr and that it is crooked; the hair falling over the face is likened to a hanged culprit (our reading).

The third couplet is the most difficult in the ghazal. We read the words "aġzı yārını" in the sense that the mouth of one who falls to the dust reaches the beloved, that is, her foot; if the lover becomes dust on the beloved's path, he can kiss her foot. This reading is not certain. The fourth couplet contains "ester", which the Kubbealtı explains as mule. The lover is ready to lay his head on the path of the beloved's mount; the sacrifice of the head will clear away the thorns of the garden of beauty. We understand the thorns in the couplet as the obstacles that block the way to the rose garden.

The pen-name couplet is a picture of a martyr's grave. The Kubbealtı explains "sûsen" as the iris plant and quotes Bâkî's couplet "Mevsim-i rezm değildir dem-i bezm erdi deyü / Sûsenin hançerini tuttu serâpâ jengâr" (saying it is not the season of battle but the time of the feast has come, rust covered the iris's dagger from end to end); in this couplet the iris leaf is likened to a dagger. Irises with sword-like leaves surround the grave of Münîr, martyred by the sword of love. The words "şemşîr" (sword), "tīġ" (blade), "şehīd" (martyr) and "mezār" (grave) build a congruence of images (tenasüp) in the couplet.

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