Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Şol ḳadar k’itdi benefşe zülfüñ öñinde sücūd
Yire degmegden olupdur alnı hep şöyle kebūd
Tūtyā-yı gerd-i rāh-ı yāra irmezse elüm
Her dem iki yaşlu gözümden irer aña dü rūd
Şöyle kim dil mülkini tutdı ḫayālüñ dōstum
Her ser-i mūdan gelür cismümde ẕikr-i yā Vedūd
Āteş-i ḥıḳd u ḥasedden hīc diñlemez raḳīb
Rāstı Ḥaḳ sözdür ol kim el-ḥasūdü lā-yesūd
Yanduġumca germ olup dūd-ı dil irer göklere
Gerçi olmaz āteş-i pür-şevḳ ile iñende dūd
Mest-i cām-ı bāde-i bezm-i elestem ġam degül
Geh ġazel-ḫᵛān olsam itsem ‘āşıḳāne geh sürūd
Cān virüp yetişmege la‘lüñe az ḳaldı Münīr
Gerçi virmez la‘l-i nābuñ ẕerreye hergiz vücūd

In English

1. The violet has bowed in prostration before your lock so often that its brow has turned dark blue all over from touching the ground.

2. If my hand cannot reach the collyrium (tutya) made of the dust of the beloved's path, two rivers flow to it at every moment from my two tearful eyes.

3. My friend, your image has so taken the realm of the heart that from the tip of every hair on my body rises the litany "Yâ Vedûd" (O loving God).

4. The rival never rests from the fire of rancour and envy; truly the saying "the envious man never becomes a lord" is a true word.

5. As I burn, the smoke of my heart grows hot and reaches the heavens; though a fire that burns with ardour has little smoke.

6. I am drunk with the wine cup of the feast of Elest, there is no sorrow; at times let me sing ghazals, at times let me sing songs of love.

7. O Münîr, I have nearly given my life and reached your ruby lip; though your pure ruby lip never grants existence even to a mote (or: it is so small that it does not exist even as much as a mote).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a seven-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the thirty-seventh of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 37). The metre is "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The ghazal has no refrain (redif); the rhyme is the sound "-ûd": sücūd, kebūd, rūd, Vedūd, yesūd, dūd, sürūd, vücūd. In the fifth couplet the word "dūd" (smoke) occurs both in the first line and at the end of the second. The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 106a) and Vienna (VY 88a) manuscripts; no variant readings are recorded in the apparatus. To whom and when it was written is not known.

The sixth couplet of the ghazal is quoted in Ersoy's introduction. Speaking of the four hundred and eighty ghazals Münîrî wrote, Ersoy cites this couplet as an example of the poet describing his own ghazals as love poems (âşıkane).

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet (matla) rests on a poetic aetiology (hüsn-i talil). The deep blue colour of the violet is ascribed to its endless prostration before the lock; its brow has gone dark from bowing. There is a visual likeness between the violet bending its neck towards the ground and prostration. The second couplet works the idea that the dust of the path is a remedy for the eye: when the hand cannot take that dust and apply it to the eye, the eyes become two rivers and reach the dust themselves. The word "rūd" in its dictionary sense means river.

The third couplet uses the language of Sufism. "Vedūd" in its dictionary sense means "the very loving" and is one of the names of God. The beloved's image has so taken the realm of the heart that every hair-tip on the lover's body begins a litany (zikr) like a dervish. In the fourth couplet a set Arabic saying is quoted: "el-ḥasūdü lā-yesūd" (the envious man never becomes a lord). This is an example of a proverb used in verse (irsal-i mesel). The TDV notes that Münîrî was successful in the tradition of setting proverbs and idioms into poetry.

In the fifth couplet there is a contrast: a fire that truly burns with ardour gives little smoke, yet the smoke rising from the lover's heart reaches the heavens. This is a way of saying that the lover's burning surpasses ordinary fire. In the sixth couplet "bezm-i elest" refers to the feast of pre-eternity at which the souls, before creation, said "yes" to God; the lover's drunkenness comes from there. Singing ghazals and love songs within this drunkenness can also be read as the poet's word on his own poetry. Ersoy quotes the couplet in this respect. The closeness of sound between "sürūd" (song) and the word "rūd" in the second couplet is noticeable.

The pen-name couplet closes with an idea frequent in divan poetry: the beloved's lip or mouth is so small that it hardly exists. The couplet can be read in two ways: the ruby lip is proud and grants no right of existence to a mote, that is, to the lover; or the lip is so small that it does not exist even as much as a mote. The double sense of the word "vücūd", both "existence" and "body", also connects with the lover's giving up his life.

Bibliography

Online sources