Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ey yüzi gül-berg ü bālā ḳāmeti serv-i bülend
Gül-şen-i ḥüsnüñe çeşm-i bedden irmesün gezend
Ḥaḳ cemālüñden yavuz göz şerrini dūr itmege
Āteş-i ruḫsāruñ üzre beñlerüñ düşmiş sipend
Rīsmān-ı zülfüñe kim dil yapışmışdur çıḳar
Ṣanki düzd-i ḳal‘adur burc üzre atmışdur kemend
İrdügince tīġ-i ġamzeñ ḫoş gelür rīş-i dile
Gerçi dirler yaraya ṣu olmaz aṣlā sūd-mend
Dürc-i yāḳūta cevāhir ṭoldurup mercān lebüñ
Urmış aġzına nigīn-i la‘l birle mühr ü bend
Leblerüñ vaṣfın yazup her kime gönderse Münīr
Kāġıd ile ṣanki tuḥfe gönderür bir pāre ḳand

In English

1. O you whose face is a rose petal and whose tall stature is a lofty cypress; may no harm from the evil eye come to the rose garden of your beauty.

2. To keep the evil of the evil eye away from your beauty, God has cast your moles upon the fire of your cheek as rue seeds.

3. The heart that has seized the rope of your lock climbs up; it is as if it were a castle thief who has thrown his lasso onto the tower.

4. Each time the sword of your glance reaches it, it is pleasant to the heart's wound; though they say water is of no use at all to a wound (yet the "water" of the sword comes to the wound like a cure).

5. Your coral lip, having filled the ruby casket (your mouth) with jewels (your teeth), has set a seal on its mouth with a ruby signet and closed it.

6. To whomever Münîr writes and sends a description of your lips, it is as if he sent a piece of sugar wrapped in paper as a gift.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a six-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the fortieth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 40). The metre is "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The ghazal has no refrain (redif); the rhyme is the sound "-end": bülend, gezend, sipend, kemend, sūd-mend, bend, ḳand. In his introduction, when describing the kinds of rhyme, Ersoy gives the opening couplet of this ghazal as an example of "kafiye-i mukayyede", rhyme made with bound consonants; what is meant here is the repetition of the sounds "n" and "d" together.

The poem is found in the three manuscripts of the divan (VT 107a, VY 88b, Ü 23a) and in the anthology of Edirneli Nazmî (MN 60a). According to the apparatus VT reads "zülf ile" for "zülfüñe" and Ü reads "dil kim" for "kim dil" in the third couplet. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first two couplets of the ghazal are built on the belief in the evil eye. In the opening couplet (matla) the beloved's face is likened to a rose petal and the stature to a cypress, and the wish is made that the evil eye should not harm this rose garden. In the second couplet the cheek is likened to fire and the moles to rue seeds thrown on the fire. "Sipend" in its dictionary sense is wild rue; it is thrown on the fire against the evil eye. The black moles resting on the red cheek are seen as dark seeds thrown on the fire; this is a poetic aetiology (hüsn-i talil). In the pen-name couplet of the ghazal immediately preceding in the edition (tg 39) the same words "sipend" and "gezend" are also used.

The third couplet draws a lively scene. The lock is a rope and the heart a thief climbing a castle; the thief throws his lasso onto the tower and climbs up. The words rope, lasso, castle and tower form a congruence of images (tenasüp). In the fourth couplet the word "water" is used in two senses: according to the common saying water does not suit a wound, yet the "water" of the glance's sword, that is, the sheen of the steel, is pleasant to the wound of the heart. This double entendre (tevriye) is our own observation.

The fifth couplet is full of images of jewels. The mouth is a ruby casket (dürc), the teeth the jewels filled into it, and the lip the ruby seal set upon the casket. There is a wide congruence of images among the words coral, ruby, garnet-ruby (lal) and jewel. The keeping of the mouth closed can also be understood as the beloved's not speaking or not giving a kiss.

The pen-name couplet concerns the poet's own poetry. To whomever Münîrî sends the poem in which he praises the beloved's lips, he has sent a piece of sugar wrapped in paper. The sweetness of the lip and the sweetness of the poem are joined; "ḳand" in its dictionary sense is loaf sugar, a lump of sugar.

Bibliography

Online sources