Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün

Bir kerre ki elde görem ol zülf-i dü-tāyı
Binüm ṣanuram memleket-i Çīn ü Ḫıṭāyı
Deldi cigeri ġamze-i dil-dūzı nigāruñ
Ey dil görinen bu ki saña dikdi ‘aṣāyı
Zülf-i siyeh-i yārı göñül iñen añarsın
Olduñ gibi sen daḥı benüm gibi hevāyī
Bülbül gibi dil berg ü nevādan dem urur līk
Bī-berg ü nevā ḳanda bulur berg ü nevāyı
Bir būseyile la‘li k’ala cānı Münīrī
Ṭura vara gör kim bulımazsın bu behāyı

In English

1. If I once saw that twofold (curling) tress in my hand, I would think the land of China and Khitai my own.

2. The heart-stitching glance of the beloved has pierced the liver; O heart, it seems it has set up a staff (asâ) for you. (The idiomatic sense of the line is not clear; see the commentary.)

3. O heart, you dwell much on the beloved's black tress; you seem to have become, like me, flighty (given to passing fancies).

4. The heart, like the nightingale, speaks of leaf and melody (berg ü nevâ); but where can one without leaf and melody, that is without a livelihood, find a livelihood?

5. Münîrî, if the ruby lip were to take the soul for a single kiss, however far you went about you would not find such a price (so cheap a bargain).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the three hundred and twenty-second of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 322). The metre is "mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün". In the list of refrains in his introduction Ersoy gives the refrain of this ghazal as "-İ"; the rhyme rests on the sound "-ā": dü-tā, Ḫıṭā, ‘aṣā, hevā, nevā and behā. The ghazal is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 174b). It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In the opening couplet the tress is valued at the price of a kingdom. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "dütâ" as twofold, bent; the beloved's curling tress is described by this adjective. If the lover once saw this tress in his hand, he would think the lands of China and Khitai his own. Holding the tress in the hand is set equal to possessing a great realm.

A pun can be sensed in the second couplet. The Kubbealtı explains the suffix "-dûz" as coming from the Persian verb "to sew" and adding the sense "stitching, one who stitches"; the glance is therefore "dil-dûz", heart-stitching. At the end of the line comes the Turkish verb "dikmek" (to set up, to plant): the glance has "set up" an "asâ" for the lover. The sense of sewing in the Persian suffix and the sense of planting something upright in the ground in the Turkish verb are placed side by side (our observation). The Kubbealtı explains "asâ" as a long stick, a staff, and a staff carried in the hand as a symbol of power. One may think of the arrow of the glance that pierced the liver as being planted in the lover's breast like a staff, but we could not find in the sources whether "asâ dikmek" is an idiom; we cannot state the meaning of the line with certainty.

In the third couplet appears the word "havâyî", which the Kubbealtı explains as one who disregards serious things and acts as he pleases, who does not stay constant anywhere. The poet tells his heart that by ceaselessly dwelling on the beloved's black tress it has become flighty like himself; lover and heart have fallen into the same state.

The fourth couplet carries the most successful double entendre (tevriye) of the ghazal. The Kubbealtı explains "berg" as leaf, and "nevâ" as melody, harmony, voice and as portion, share; to the idiom "berg ü nevâ" it gives the sense of the means of living, livelihood. The nightingale on the rose branch speaks of leaf and melody; the heart too, like the nightingale, talks of "berg ü nevâ". But "bî-berg ü nevâ", one without leaf and voice, is at the same time the pauper without a livelihood; where is such a one to find his living? Words belonging to the nightingale are used to tell of the state of the lover whom love has left poor.

The pen-name couplet uses the language of buying and selling. The Kubbealtı gives "bahâ" as the old and original form of "paha" (price). If the ruby lip were to take the soul in return for a kiss, the price would be a bargain not to be found again. Reckoning it cheap to exchange something as precious as the soul for a kiss shows the worth of the kiss in the lover's eyes.

Bibliography

Online sources