Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün fe‘ūlün

Gören zülfin yüzinde yoḫsul u bay
‘Acebler dir ki gündüz ṭutulur m’ay
Senüñ ḥālüñ ne ey dil ‘ışḳ elinden
Ṣınuḳlarını ṣardırmış hele nāy
‘Acebdür murġ-ı dil de bunda yoḳsa
Hele per atuñuñ yanında cān tay
Sözüm diñle benüm de geh geh ey dil
Eyü olmaz kişi kim ola ḫod-rāy
Münīrī añma Hindistānı baña
Çoġ olur bunda ṭūṭī-i şeker-ḫāy

In English

1. Rich and poor alike, seeing her curl upon her face, say in wonder: "Is the moon eclipsed by day?" (The black curl covering the bright face is likened to an eclipse of the moon.)

2. O heart, what is your state at the hands of love; look, even the reed flute has had its fractures bound. (The bindings on the joints of the reed flute (ney) are likened to the bandages wrapped round broken bones.)

3. It would be strange if the bird of the heart were not here too; for beside your winged horse the soul is but a foal. (The couplet is not entirely clear; the word "tay" can mean both "foal" and "equal, counterweight"; see the commentary.)

4. O heart, listen to my word too now and then; one who goes his own way is never the better for it.

5. Münîrî, do not speak to me of India; here there are many sugar-chewing parrots (sweet-tongued beauties).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the three hundred and ninth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 309). The metre is "mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün fe‘ūlün". The rhyme rests on the sound "-ay/-āy": bay, ay (m'ay), nāy, tay, rāy and ḫāy. The number of this ghazal does not appear in the list of refrains in Ersoy's introduction. The ghazal is found in two manuscripts of the divan (VT 171a, VY 144a) and in the Pervâne Bey anthology (PB 587b). It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The rhyme of the ghazal is built on short, single-syllable words, some of which come from popular speech. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "yoksul" as a person of very slender means and quotes Karacaoğlan's line "Merhamet kalmadı yoksulda bayda" (no mercy is left in poor or rich); the pair "yoksul u bay" occurs together in this way in folk poetry as well. In the opening couplet the pair says that everyone, rich or poor, sees the beloved's beauty. "M'ay" is the fused form of the words "mı ay" (is the moon...). The black curl covering the bright face is likened to an eclipse of the moon by day; the cause of the wonder is that an eclipse of the moon should be seen at night. The TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi notes that archaic words are frequent in Münîrî's poems and that he was successful in the tradition of using local idioms; the rhyme of this ghazal is an example of this.

In the second couplet the reed flute (ney) appears as a being broken by love. The Kubbealtı describes the ney as a wind instrument made of a reed with nine joints and reports, from Abdülbâki Gölpınarlı, that Mevlânâ's Mesnevî opens with the couplet in which the ney tells of its separations. In the Enderunlu Vâsıf couplet under the same dictionary's entry "meyan", the ney is also called "meyan-beste", that is, bound at the waist. Münîrî sees the bindings on the ney's joints as bandages wrapped round broken bones: when even the ney has been broken by love and bound up, the state of the heart need not be asked.

The third couplet is the most obscure of the ghazal. The Kubbealtı gives two separate entries for "tay": the "tay" from Old Turkic meaning a foal up to three years old, and the "tay" from Persian meaning one side of a load packed on either flank of an animal, a counterweight. Beside the beloved's "per" horse, that is, winged or running as if in flight, the soul runs like a foal; the bird of the heart may be expected to be there too. It is possible to hear the word "tay" in the couplet in its second sense as well, but we cannot say for certain that this is intended (our reading).

In the fourth couplet the heart is given counsel. The Kubbealtı explains "hod-rey" as one who acts on his own opinion, headstrong, and quotes Şeyhülislâm Yahyâ's line "Nefs-i hod-re'yden ey dil", which likewise addresses the heart. The pen-name couplet uses the phrase "tûtî-i şeker-hâ", which the Kubbealtı explains as "sugar-chewing parrot" and, figuratively, one who speaks fine words. India, the parrot and sugar are named together in the couplet; the poet sees no need to mention the distant land, because the sweet-tongued are plentiful "here" too. Which place or gathering "here" refers to is not clear.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Books

  • Kubbealtı Lugatı (Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük), entries "yoksul", "ney – nay", "meyan – miyan", "tay", "hod" (hod-rey) and "tûtî". https://lugatim.com/s/ney

Online sources