Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

La‘l-i nābuñdan ki dil söyler ḫayāl-i ma‘nevī
İşiden dir ġālibā budur zebān-ı Pehlevī
Pertev-i nūr-ı cemāl ile ṭolupdur mülk-i dil
Ḫāne-i çeşme ḫayāl-i yār olaldan münzevī
Devr-i ḥüsnüñde ġazel-gūluḳ ṣunuldı bize de
Ḥażret-i Mollāya maḫṣūṣ oldıyısa Mes̱nevī
Derd-i ‘ışḳ-ı yār her sā‘at bu vech ile seni
N’ola añarsa ḳarındaşuñdur ey dil uḫrevī
Dil hilāl ebrūsını gösterdügi yārüñ Münīr
Kişi ‘ādetdür göricek gösterür māh-ı nevi

In English

1. Whenever the heart speaks of a spiritual fancy drawn from your pure ruby lip, whoever hears it says, "This is probably the Pahlavi tongue." (The words seem as deep as an ancient, hard-to-understand language; our reading.)

2. Ever since the image of the beloved withdrew into seclusion in the house of the eye, the realm of the heart has been filled with the radiance of the light of beauty.

3. Just as the Mesnevi was reserved for His Excellency the Molla (Mevlânâ), so in the age of your beauty the art of ghazal-making has been granted to us.

4. O heart, is it any wonder if the pain of love for the beloved remembers you in this way every hour; it is your brother for the hereafter.

5. Münîr, the heart has pointed out the beloved's crescent eyebrow; it is people's custom, on seeing the new moon, to point it out (to one another).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the three hundred and tenth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 310). 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 "-ī"; the rhyme rests on the sound "-ev": ma‘nevī, Pehlevī, münzevī, Mes̱nevī, uḫrevī and māh-ı nev(i). The ghazal is found in two manuscripts of the divan (VT 171a, VY 144a). It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Ersoy touches on the third couplet of this ghazal in his introduction. After saying that among the verse forms Münîrî was most successful in the ghazal, he writes that the poet expresses this by stating that, just as the Mesnevi belongs to Mevlânâ, the art of ghazal-making was granted to him in the age of the beloved's beauty. Ersoy thus reads the couplet as an assessment by the poet of his own ghazal-writing.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Among the rhyme words of the ghazal there is an arrangement pointing to Mevlânâ's work. The TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi article "Mesnevî" introduces the work as the one containing the Sufi outlook of Mevlânâ Celâleddîn-i Rûmî (d. 672/1273); in the title of one of the commentaries the article mentions, the work is called "Mes̱nevî-i Ma‘nevî". Münîrî puts "ma‘nevī" in the rhyme of the opening couplet and "Mes̱nevī" in the third; thus this full title of the work is heard, scattered, in the rhyme scheme (our observation). The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "Pehlevî" as the old Iranian language spoken in the Sasanian period. The spiritual fancy spoken from the beloved's lip sounds to the hearer like an ancient and profound language; with this the poet praises the depth of his words, which are not easily understood (our reading).

The third couplet is an allusion (telmih). The Kubbealtı explains the phrase "Mesnevî-i Şerîf" as Mevlânâ's Persian work, and "Hażret-i Mollā" in the couplet stands for Mevlânâ. The poet compares his own ghazal-making with Mevlânâ's Mesnevi: just as the Mesnevi remained Mevlânâ's own, so in the age of the beloved's beauty the ghazal has been given to Münîrî. This is a boast (fahriye), but the source of the praise is still the beloved's beauty.

The second couplet uses "münzevî", which the Kubbealtı explains as one who withdraws into a corner and lives alone. The beloved's image withdraws into the house of the eye and enters seclusion; from that moment the realm of the heart is filled with the light of its beauty. A relation of house and realm is set up between eye and heart. The fourth couplet brings in "uhrevî", which the Kubbealtı explains as belonging to the hereafter. The pain of love remembers the lover every hour; in the poet's eyes this pain is the heart's brother for the hereafter, that is, a companion that will not leave it even after death.

In the pen-name couplet the epithet "hilâl-ebrû", which the Kubbealtı explains as having eyebrows shaped like a crescent, comes together with the new moon (māh-ı nev). The heart points out the beloved's crescent eyebrow, because people, on seeing the new moon, point it out to one another. The custom of pointing out the new moon on seeing it is stated by the poem itself; we have not verified this custom in a further source.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Books

  • Kubbealtı Lugatı (Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük), entries "Pehlevî", "Mesnevî", "Mesnevî-i Şerîf", "münzevî", "uhrevî" and "hilâl" (hilâl-ebrû). https://lugatim.com/s/Pehlevî

Online sources