Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fe‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fe‘ilün

Remz ile her ne dirse bu beñler
Ḳara zülfüñ ḳulaġ urup diñler
Gitdi zāhid götürdi s̱ıḳletini
Hele bu deñlüdür ki remz añlar
Seg raḳīb öldi beñzer işidürüz
Ṭurmadan ḳulaġum bugün çıñlar
Derd-i ‘ışḳ ile ḥālüñ ey dil ne
Her gören dir seni müdām iñler
Bundan öñdin dimişdi saña Münīr
Öñin añlamayan ṣoñın ṭañlar

In English

1. Whatever these moles say by sign, your black lock lends an ear and listens.

2. The ascetic has gone and taken his heaviness with him; at least he understood that much of a hint.

3. The cur of a rival must have died, so we hear; today my ear keeps ringing without pause.

4. O heart, what is your state with the pain of love? All who see you say that you are always moaning.

5. Münîr told you this before: he who does not understand the beginning wonders at the end.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the forty-fifth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 45). The metre is "fe‘ilâtün mefâ‘ilün fe‘ilün". Ersoy's list of refrains gives the refrain (redif) of this ghazal as "-lar"; the rhyme is the "-ñ" sound before it: beñler, diñler, añlar, çıñlar, iñler, ṭañlar. That all the rhyme words are Turkish and that the nasal ñ sound recurs gives the ghazal a marked unity of sound. The poem is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 107b). To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal draws attention with its short metre and plain Turkish. All the rhyme words are Turkish verbs and nouns (diñlemek, to listen; añlamak, to understand; çıñlamak, to ring; iñlemek, to moan; ṭañlamak, to wonder at). Ersoy notes that plain Turkish and proverbs and idioms are given ample room in Münîrî's works; the TDV also writes that archaic words are often found in his poems and that he was successful in setting proverbs and idioms into verse. This ghazal is an example that fits these observations.

In the opening couplet (matla) a conversation is set up between the moles on the cheek and the black lock falling over the cheek. The moles speak by sign (remz), while the lock listens "kulak urup", that is, lending an ear. The lock falling from beside the face towards the ear supports this image; this explanation is our own inference. In the second couplet the word "remz" (hint) is used again. The ascetic has left the gathering and taken with him the heaviness he brought; the poet says mockingly that at least he had wit enough to understand so much of a hint.

The third couplet rests on an idiom. "Kulak çınlamak" (one's ear ringing) in its dictionary sense suggests that someone is speaking of us; the poet connects it with news of the rival's death and gladly guesses that the rival may have died. Calling the rival "seg" (dog) is an example of the harsh language used against the rival in divan poetry. In the fourth couplet it is said that the heart is always moaning with the pain of love. Here the poet addresses his heart as if it were a stranger and describes its state through the mouths of others; the verb "iñlemek" (to moan) also forms an answer in sound to "diñlemek" (to listen) in the opening couplet. Identifying this connection of sound is our own work.

The pen-name couplet closes with a proverbial phrase: "Öñin añlamayan ṣoñın ṭañlar", that is, he who does not understand the beginning of a matter wonders at its end. This is an example of a proverb used in verse (irsal-i mesel); the poet reminds his heart that he had warned it from the start. The contrast between the words "öñ" (front, beginning) and "ṣoñ" (end) makes the saying memorable.

Bibliography

Online sources