Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

La‘l-i nābuñ kim getürdi ḫaṭṭ-ı reyḥānı dürüst
Ḥükmi nāfiẕdür ki ṭutdı kişver-i cānı dürüst
Ḥüccetüm vardur dimiş ḳanuma şīrīn leblerüñ
Olmayınca rū-be-rū ben ṭutmazam anı dürüst
Zülf-i kāfir-kīş-i dil-ber kim ṭutardı gizlü dīn
Cennete girmezdi olmasaydı īmānı dürüst
Gevher-i vaṣluñ murād itdügi içün gözlerüm
Çigzinür cānā dem-ā-dem baḥr-i ‘Ummānı dürüst
Dün dimişdüñ yarın öldürem tamām idem işüñ
Bu gün ol gündür k’idesin ‘ahd ü peymānı dürüst
Dest-i zülfüñde görüp didüm cemālüñ muṣḥafın
Gūyiyā Cibrīldür k’indürdi Ḳur’ānı dürüst
Ġonca la‘lüñ yādına her dem ṣurāḥī çekmegin
Germ olup yırtar yaḳasın yoḳ girībānı dürüst
Ẕerrede ‘ıḳd-ı S̱üreyyā görmek isterseñ Münīr
Gör bu fem içre dizilen dürr-i dendānı dürüst

In English

1. Your pure ruby lip has brought forth the basil-green down (or: a writing in the reyhânî script) complete; its decree is in force, for it has taken the whole realm of the soul.

2. Your sweet lips have said, "I hold a legal deed (hüccet) for shedding his blood"; until we stand face to face, I shall not hold that deed to be valid.

3. The beloved's infidel-natured lock, which kept a secret faith, would not have entered paradise (the paradise of the cheek) had its faith not been sound.

4. O my soul, because my eyes desire the pearl of union with you, they roam the Sea of Oman from end to end at every moment.

5. Yesterday you said, "Tomorrow I will kill you and finish your business"; today is that day, and you should keep your pledge and your word.

6. Seeing the Qur'an-copy of your face in the hand of your lock, I said: it is as if it were Gabriel, who sent down the Qur'an complete.

7. Because the rosebud drains the flask at every moment in memory of your ruby lip, it grows heated and tears its collar; it has no whole collar left.

8. O Münîr, if you wish to see the necklace of the Pleiades within a mote, look well at the pearls of teeth strung within this mouth.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is an eight-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the thirty-second of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 32). The metre is "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The refrain (redif) is the word "dürüst"; Ersoy's list of refrains also gives this ghazal with the refrain "-ı dürüst". The rhyme is the sound "-ânı": reyḥānı, cānı, anı, īmānı, ‘Ummānı, peymānı, Ḳur'ānı, girībānı, dendānı. From couplet to couplet the word "dürüst" is used in different senses such as "complete, right, valid, sound". To whom and when it was written is not known.

The attribution of the ghazal must be noted separately. According to Ersoy's apparatus the poem is found in none of the three manuscripts of the divan; it is recorded under Münîrî's name only in two anthologies of response poems, the Pervâne Bey Mecmuası (PB 73b, 1560) and Edirneli Nazmî's Mecmau'n-nezâ'ir (MN 44b, 1523). In his introduction Ersoy says that he took into the text one ghazal not found in the divan and seen only in PB, because no other Münîrî is known to have lived until 1560 and because fifty more ghazals of the divan appear in the same anthology. In the apparatus, however, three ghazals appear without a manuscript of the divan (tg 12, 32 and 135); since this ghazal is also found in MN, it is not certain which ghazal Ersoy had in mind.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The language of the ghazal is woven largely from legal and religious terms. In the opening couplet the word "ḫaṭṭ" means both the down on the cheek and writing; "reyḥānī" in its dictionary sense describes what belongs to the basil plant, and it is at the same time the name of a calligraphic script. This "writing" brought forth by the lip rules the realm of the soul like a decree in force (nāfiẕ). There is a clear congruence of images (tenasüp) between the idea that the down completes the beloved's beauty like a piece of writing and the words decree and judgement. That the TDV notes Münîrî also practised calligraphy helps to understand his ease with calligraphic terms; but since the attribution of this poem is disputed, drawing that connection is our own inference.

In the second couplet "hüccet" is a document drawn up by a judge (kadı). The lip says it holds such a deed for shedding the lover's blood; the lover declares that he will not recognise the deed unless there is a confrontation face to face (rū-be-rū). The subtlety of the couplet is that the language of the court is turned into the longing to meet the beloved: by objecting to the deed the lover asks to see the beloved face to face. This interpretation is our own inference.

In the third couplet a contrast is set up between infidel and faith, secret religion and paradise. The lock is likened to an infidel because it is black; the cheek is paradise. The lock falling over the cheek shows that the lock thought to be an infidel in fact has a secret faith. In the fourth couplet tears are likened to the sea and union to a pearl; like a diver seeking pearls, the eye roams the Sea of Oman. The verb "çigzinmek" in its dictionary sense means "to roam, to wander about" and is an old Turkish word.

The irony of the fifth couplet is that the lover asks for the promise of death to be kept. In the sixth couplet the face is likened to a copy of the Qur'an (mushaf) and the hand of the lock to Gabriel; as the copy is seen in the hand of the angel who brought down the Qur'an, so the face appears in the embrace of the lock. In the seventh couplet the opening of the rosebud is ascribed to its tearing its collar; this is a well-known poetic aetiology (hüsn-i talil), and the likeness of shape between the flask and the bud supports the image. In the pen-name couplet the smallness of the mouth is likened to a mote and the teeth to the string of the Pleiades; to see a whole cluster of stars in a tiny mote conveys the marvel of the beloved's mouth.

Bibliography

Online sources