Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün

Ṣu gibi ḳanum içmege bir muġ-beçe mübāḥ
Mest-i ṣabūḥ olup yetişür her ‘alā’ṣ-ṣabāḥ
Zāhid ḳo nīk ü bed ḫaberin devr-i gül durur
Şimdi yeg ol degül mi k’ola elde kās-ı rāḥ
Gerçi ṭalāḳ virmiş idüm duḫter-i reze
İster göñül kim idem aña yine ben niḳāḥ
Pīr- muġān işigine sürsün di yüzini
Deyr-i fenāda isteyene ey göñül ṣalāḥ
Dil şāh-bāz-ı ḳuds ile pervāz ider Münīr
Ṣūretde olmadıysa n’ola murġ-ı ẕü’l-cenāḥ

In English

1. To a tavern boy (muğbeçe) it is lawful to drink my blood like water; drunk on the morning wine, he arrives early every morning.

2. O ascetic, leave aside news of good and bad, it is the season of the rose; is it not better now to have a cup of wine in hand?

3. Though I had divorced the daughter of the vine (that is, renounced wine in repentance), the heart wishes to marry her again.

4. O heart, tell whoever seeks righteousness in this monastery of the passing world to rub his face on the threshold of the elder of the Magi (the master of the tavern).

5. O Münîr, the heart flies with the royal falcon of the holy realm; what matter if in outward form it has not become a winged bird?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the thirty-sixth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 36). The metre is "mef‘ûlü fâ‘ilâtü mefâ‘îlü fâ‘ilün". The ghazal has no refrain (redif); the rhyme is the sound "-âḥ": mübāḥ, ṣabāḥ, rāḥ, niḳāḥ, ṣalāḥ, cenāḥ. To whom and when it was written is not known.

The poem is found in all three manuscripts of the divan (VT 106a, VY 87b, Ü 23a); but the Istanbul University copy gives the ghazal in a different order and form. According to the apparatus, in Ü the second couplet stands fourth and the third couplet stands second. In the second couplet Ü reads "açma aġzuñı" for "ḳo nīk ü bed ḫaberin" and "Çün kim yetişdi vaḳt-i gül ü devr-i" for "Şimdi yeg degül mi k'ola elde"; in the third couplet it has "fikrüm budur" for "ister göñül". These differences show that the ghazal circulated in different forms in the manuscripts.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is an example of the libertine (rindane) side of divan poetry: wine is defended against the ascetic, and the figures of the tavern (the tavern boy, the elder of the Magi) are praised. In the opening couplet (matla) the word "mübāḥ" (religiously permitted) is used in a surprising place: the tavern boy's drinking of the lover's blood is counted lawful. "Ṣabūḥ" (morning wine) and "‘alā'ṣ-ṣabāḥ" (early in the morning) come from the same root; this derivation (iştikak) gives the couplet a pleasure of sound.

The second couplet addresses the ascetic, putting forward the season of the rose. He is asked to stop giving counsel on good and bad and to admit that it is better to have a cup in hand. The word "rāḥ" in its dictionary sense means wine.

The third couplet is a jest built on terms of religious law. Wine is thought of as "duḫter-i rez", the daughter of the vine; the lover has repented and divorced her (ṭalāḳ), but the heart wishes to marry her again (niḳāḥ). Together with "mübāḥ" in the opening couplet and "ṣalāḥ" (righteousness) in the fourth, these terms show that the ascetic is mocked in the ascetic's own language; this observation is ours. In the fourth couplet whoever seeks righteousness is advised to rub his face on the threshold of the master of the tavern. "Deyr-i fenā" in its dictionary sense is "the monastery of transience", that is, the world.

The pen-name couplet moves from worldly libertinism to a spiritual ascent. The heart is not winged in outward form, yet it flies with the falcon of the holy realm. This close suggests that the wine and the tavern may also carry a mystical sense. The examples of Münîrî's libertinism in Ersoy's introduction are taken from other ghazals; this ghazal is not mentioned there.

Bibliography

Online sources