Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün

Var iken şol ṣanemüñ kākül-i ‘anber-şikeni
Key ḫaṭādur ṭaleb itmek bize müşk-i Ḫuteni
Var göñül sen daḫı ol silsile-i zülfe ṭolaş
Ki baña ḥabl-i metīn oldı anuñ her reseni
Lāf-ı ḥüsn itdi diyü ġonca lebüñ ḳarşusına
Şöyle urdı ki ṣabā ḳan ile ṭoldı deheni
Boynı baġlu ḳulıdur ḳāmetüñüñ serv-i revān
Kimdür āzāde diyen böyleyiken nārveni
Virmeden yillere ḫākisterümi bād-ı fenā
Göre mi şem‘-i cemālüñi Münīr encümeni

In English

1. While this idol of beauty has a forelock that outdoes even ambergris, what a mistake it is for us to go seeking the musk of Khotan.

2. Go on, O heart, you too entangle yourself in that chain of curls; for every strand of it has become for me a firm rope (habl-i metîn).

3. Because the rosebud boasted of its beauty before your lip, the morning breeze struck it so hard that its mouth filled with blood. (The opening of the red bud is read as its mouth bleeding from the breeze's blow.)

4. The swaying cypress is a bound slave to your stature; this being so, who would call the elm "free"?

5. O Münîr, before the wind of extinction scatters my ashes to the winds, shall I see the candle of your beauty and the gathering around it? (The order of the line is not entirely clear; we have taken "encümen" as the gathering lit by the candle.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the three hundred and third of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 303). The metre is "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün". In the list of refrains in his introduction Ersoy gives the refrain of this ghazal as "-İ"; the rhyme rests on the sound "-en": şiken, Ḫuten, resen, dehen, nārven and encümen. The ghazal is found in the three manuscripts of the divan (VT 169b, VY 147a, Ü 59b) and in the Pervâne Bey anthology (PB 567a). In the first line of the fourth couplet the Vienna manuscript and the Pervâne Bey anthology give the order "serv-i revān ḳāmetüñüñ". It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet is built on scent. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "sanem" as idol and, figuratively, a very beautiful person, "kâkül" as a short lock of hair falling over the forehead, and "amber" as a highly fragrant substance. In the same dictionary's entry on musk, Şemseddin Sivâsî's line "Değil bûy-i Hotan yâ misk-i Tâtâr" is given as an example; there too the name of Khotan is mentioned together with fragrance. Since the scent of the forelock "breaks" ambergris, seeking musk is in vain. While the Kubbealtı gives the suffix "-şiken" the sense "breaking", it separately explains "şiken" as curl, twist, with the example "şiken-i kâkül". Thus in the epithet "anber-şiken" one hears both "breaking ambergris" and the twist of the forelock (our observation).

In the second couplet the curl is a chain and each of its strands a rope. The Kubbealtı explains "resen" as rope, cord; for "habl-i metîn" it gives the sense "very strong rope" and notes that by extension it is used for the religion of Islam and the Qur'an. The poet applies this phrase, with its religious resonance, to the beloved's hair: the curl, which for others is a chain and a snare, is for the lover a firm rope to hold on to. Telling the heart "you too entangle yourself" implies that the poet himself has long since been entangled.

The third couplet is an example of fanciful aetiology (hüsn-i talil): the red opening of the bud is shown as its punishment for boasting before the beloved's lip. The morning breeze is the breeze that opens the bud; here the act of opening becomes a slap, and the red colour becomes blood coming from the mouth.

In the fourth couplet two trees are compared. The Kubbealtı explains "nârven" as elm and "âzâde" as free, unbound; under "âzâdelik" the same dictionary quotes Enderunlu Vâsıf's line "Ne bu âzâdelik ey serv-i revan", so the cypress and the epithet of freedom do appear together in poetry. For Münîrî even the cypress is a bound slave of the beloved's stature; to call the elm "free", then, is wholly unfitting.

In the pen-name couplet the idea of the candle and the moth runs on beneath the surface. The Kubbealtı explains "encümen" as assembly, gathering, and quotes a couplet by Hayâlî Bey containing the phrase "şem'-i encümen"; in the couplet by Leskofçalı Gālib under the same dictionary's entry "şem'" the moth, the candle and "hâkister" (ashes) also appear together. The lover wishes to see the candle of the beloved's beauty before he turns to ash; the giving of the ashes to the wind means that after death no trace remains.

Bibliography

Online sources