Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün

Göñlümüñ zülfüñle n’ola var ise ünsiyyeti
Vardur anuñla perīşānlıḳda bir cinsiyyeti
Çihrem ile cismümi gör dōstum gitme ıraḳ
Keh-rübānuñ bilmek isterseñ nedür ḫāṣıyyeti
Kime dirsem leblerüñ ẕevḳı beni mest itdügin
Dir yalansın hīc olur mı şerbetüñ keyfiyyeti
Mihr-i ruḫsāruñla bilinse dehānuñ ṭañ mı kim
Āftāb ile bilinür ẕerrenüñ māhiyyeti
Yüzüñi gördükçe söz bulmaz ki söyleye Münīr
Ṭut kim ol dil bilmez aṣlā yoḳ durur ehliyyeti

In English

1. Is it any wonder if my heart has an intimacy (ünsiyet) with your curl; in dishevelment it is of one kind with it.

2. My friend, do not go far; if you wish to know what the property of amber is, look at my face and my body. (The yellowed face resembles amber, and the body, wasted to a wisp of straw, resembles straw; amber draws straw to itself. The words "do not go far" also point to this attraction; our reading.)

3. Whomever I tell that the taste of your lips made me drunk says: "It is a lie; can sherbet ever have an intoxicating effect?"

4. Is it strange if your mouth is seen and known by the sun of your cheek; the nature of a mote, too, is known by the sun. (The mouth is as tiny as a mote, and a mote is visible only in sunlight.)

5. Whenever Münîr sees your face he finds no word to say; take it that that tongue knows no language at all and has no competence whatever.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the three hundred and fifth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 305). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". In the list of refrains in his introduction Ersoy gives the refrain of this ghazal as "-İ". All the rhyme words are abstract nouns formed with the Arabic suffix "-iyyet": ünsiyyet, cinsiyyet, ḫāṣıyyet, keyfiyyet, māhiyyet and ehliyyet. The ghazal is found in all three manuscripts of the divan (VT 170a, VY 143a, Ü 59a); in the Istanbul manuscript the third and fourth couplets change places. It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

All the couplets of the ghazal proceed in a kind of order of "proof": each states a situation and then brings in a fact or comparison that confirms it. The abstract nouns in the rhyme support this air of reasoning. In the opening couplet "ünsiyet", which the Kubbealtı Lugatı explains as closeness, familiarity, intimacy, stands beside "cinsiyet", which the same dictionary gives in its obsolete sense of "being of the same kind"; for this second sense the Kubbealtı quotes a couplet by Nâbî containing the phrase "alâka-i cinsiyyet". Both heart and curl are dishevelled; since they are of one kind, it is natural that they feel close to one another.

The second couplet rests on the origin of a word. The Kubbealtı notes that "kehribar" (amber) comes from the Persian "keh" (straw) and "rubâ" (snatching), that when rubbed it can draw light matter to itself, and that it is popularly called "straw-catcher"; it also explains the expression "like amber" as bright yellow. The lover's yellowed face is the amber, his wasted body the straw. The friend being told "do not go far" can be linked with the lover's wish to draw the beloved to himself, as amber draws straw (our reading).

The third couplet works on the word "keyfiyet". The Kubbealtı explains it as the state a thing bears, its quality. In the couplet the "keyfiyet" of sherbet is used as its power to intoxicate; the word's sharing a root with "keyif" (pleasure, tipsiness) supports this sense (our reading). The listener accuses the lover of lying by saying that sherbet does not intoxicate, but the drunkenness that the sweet lip gives does not come from wine.

In the fourth couplet the familiar relation between the sun and the mote is drawn. The Kubbealtı explains "mâhiyet" as the essential element that determines what a thing is, and "zerre" as a very small particle; "mihr" means both sun and love. The beloved's mouth is as small as a mote; just as the motes in the air become visible in sunlight, the mouth is noticed thanks to the brightness of the cheek. The pen-name couplet brings in "ehliyet", which the Kubbealtı explains as the power to do a thing, competence. Münîr loses his tongue before the beloved's face; in "dil bilmez" the word "dil" is both the organ of speech and language.

Bibliography

Online sources