Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Mihr-i ruḫuñla gül ḳoyup ortaya varını
Gül-zāra geldi görmege ḥüsnüñ bahārını
Diñ ‘andelībe gül ḳanaṭı birle uçmasun
K’anuñ gibinüñ ol uçurupdur hezārını
Levḥ-i zer üzre yaşlu gözüm mācerā yazar
Sīmīn varaḳda göreli ḫaṭṭuñ ġubārını
Zülf-i siyāhuñı ideli göñlüm iḫtiyār
Hergiz elinde görmemişem iḫtiyārını
Sen meh-liḳā yolında k’öle ‘āḳıbet Münīr
Her dem melāyik ide ziyāret mezārını

In English

1. Vying with the sun of your cheek, the rose staked all it had and came to the rose garden to see the springtime of your beauty.

2. Tell the nightingale not to take flight on the rose's wing; for the rose has made a thousand of its kind fly away. (The word "hezâr" means both "a thousand" and "nightingale"; the line can also be read "it has made nightingales like it fly away".)

3. Ever since it saw the fine dust of your down on the silver leaf (your white face), my tearful eye writes the story of what has befallen me on a tablet of gold (my yellowed face).

4. Ever since my heart chose (ihtiyar) your black curl, I have never once seen its own will (ihtiyar) in its hand.

5. O Münîr, die on the path of the moon-faced beloved, so that in the end angels may visit your grave at every moment.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the three hundred and first of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 301). 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": var, bahār, hezār, ġubār, iḫtiyār and mezār. The ghazal is found in all three manuscripts of the divan (VT 169a, VY 146b, Ü 58b). It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In the opening couplet a contest of beauty is set up between the rose and the beloved. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "mihr" as the sun. To measure itself against the beloved's sun-like cheek, the rose stakes everything it has; the opening rose spreading its petals and showing its whole being is this "staking all" (our reading). In the second half of the line the usual situation is reversed: people come to the garden to see the spring of the rose, but here the rose comes to watch the spring of the beloved's beauty.

In the second couplet the same bird is named twice. The Kubbealtı explains "andelîb" as nightingale; for "hezâr" it gives two separate entries: the Persian for "a thousand" and, again from Persian, "nightingale". The poet works both senses together. The rose has worn out a thousand of the nightingales who gave it their hearts, so the nightingale should not trust its wing and take flight. We take the "rose's wing" to mean the rose petal (our reading).

The third couplet is built from words taken from the art of writing: tablet, writing, leaf, script (hat) and dust (gubar). The Kubbealtı explains "levh" as a flat surface on which writing is done, "sîmîn" as made of silver or silvery, and "gubar" as dust; the same dictionary also notes under "gubârî" that this is the name, in calligraphy, of a script written so small that it looks like dust. The silver leaf is the beloved's white face, the gold tablet the lover's yellowed face; tears write his story on this yellow tablet. Naming the fine down of the face with the words "hat" and "gubar" likens it to a minute script (our reading). The TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi reports that Münîrî said he wrote in every kind of script; the easy use of these terms in the couplet agrees with this, but we draw no direct link between the poem and the poet's calligraphy.

In the fourth couplet the word "ihtiyar" is repeated in two senses. The Kubbealtı gives the word both the sense "choosing, preferring" and the sense "acting of one's own will, using one's will". The heart took hold of the curl by its own choice, but from that moment it has had no will left in its hand. The pen-name couplet uses the epithet "meh-likâ", which the Kubbealtı explains as "moon-faced". The poet counsels himself to die on the beloved's path; the reward is a grave that angels visit at every moment.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Books

  • Kubbealtı Lugatı (Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük), entries "mihr", "andelîb", "hezâr", "levh", "sîmîn", "gubar", "gubârî", "ihtiyar" and "likā". https://lugatim.com/s/hezâr

Online sources