Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Didüm ki niçün ġamzeñ ider cānı dil-efgār
Didi kim olur merdüm-i bīmār dil-āzār
Didüm ki ṣorar leblerüñüñ varlıġını dil
Didi kim anı yok dimedüm mi saña tekrār
Didüm ki iñen cānuma kār eyledi ‘ışḳuñ
Didi kim ölürseñ de bu sözi dime zinhār
Didüm ki direm ṣorana ben sevmezem anı
Didi ki mübārekdür elüñden ḳoma inkār
Didüm ki saña cān virür ey dost Münīrī
Didi ki nedür cān ki añarsın anı hey yār

In English

1. I said: Why does your glance wound soul and heart? He said: A sick man (the languid pupil of the eye) is bound to hurt the heart.

2. I said: The heart asks whether your lips exist. He said: Have I not told you again and again that they do not?

3. I said: Your love has struck deep into my soul. He said: Even if you die, beware of saying these words.

4. I said: To those who ask I say, "I do not love him." He said: Well done; do not let go of denial.

5. I said: O friend, Münîrî would give his life for you. He said: Hey, my friend, what is a life, that you keep mentioning it?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the forty-seventh of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 47). The metre is "mef‘ûlü mefâ‘îlü mefâ‘îlü fe‘ûlün". The ghazal has no refrain (redif); the rhyme is the sound "-âr": efgār, āzār, tekrār, zinhār, inkār, yār. The poem is found in all three manuscripts of the divan (VT 108a, VY 90b, Ü 24b). According to the apparatus, in the second couplet VY reads "leblerüñ" for "leblerüñüñ", and VY again reads "Didüm kim" (I said) for "Didi kim" (he said); the second reading must not have been preferred in the edition because it breaks the question-and-answer order of the couplet, which is our own inference. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Every couplet of the ghazal is built of one line beginning "Didüm ki …" (I said) and one beginning "Didi ki …" (he said). In this form of dialogue, known in divan poetry as "dedim-dedi" or sual ü cevap (question and answer), the lover asks a question or says something and the beloved answers him.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The form itself carries the meaning of the ghazal: in each couplet the lover's heartfelt word meets the beloved's cold, mocking or sly reply. In the opening couplet (matla) the word "merdüm" in its dictionary sense means both man and the pupil of the eye. Explaining why the glance wounds, the beloved says "a sick man is bound to hurt"; in divan poetry calling the beloved's languid eye "sick" (bīmār) is a known conceit (mazmun). Thus the reply is both a general saying and a statement about the eye itself. Identifying this double entendre (tevriye) is our own work.

The second couplet rests on the conceit that the beloved's mouth or lip is so small as to be all but non-existent. The lover asks whether the lip exists; the beloved replies, "I told you it does not." The reply is also a way of refusing a kiss: if the lip does not exist, it cannot be kissed. In the third couplet the lover says that love has struck deep into his soul, while the beloved asks that this secret never be revealed. The idea that love must be concealed is carried further in the fourth couplet: the lover declares that he will tell those who ask that he does not love the beloved, and the beloved, saying "mübārek", that is, well done, asks that this denial be kept up. There is a continuity of meaning between the two couplets.

In the pen-name couplet the lover offers his greatest gift: Münîrî will give his life to the beloved. The beloved's answer is the sharpest irony of the ghazal: what is a life, that you keep mentioning it? The lover's most precious possession is not worth mentioning in the beloved's eyes. The address "hey yār" lends the answer a light, mocking tone. Throughout the ghazal the beloved's replies are short and firm, and the lover's words heartfelt and helpless; this contrast arises from the form itself.

Bibliography

Online sources