Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ḫāne-i zenbūra döndi tīr-i ġamzeñden ciger
Līkin anuñ şehdi yirine buña ḳanlar ṭolar
Eşk-i ḫūn-ālūd ile kirpüklerümi dir gören
Şāḫ-ı mercāndur kenār-ı baḥrda bitmiş meger
Dil ḫadeng-i ġamzeñe göz göre vardı virdi cān
Çāre ne çün kim iẕā cā’e’l-ḳażā ‘amye’l-baṣar
Yandı sīnem ‘ışḳ odıyla gözlerüm yaş dökdügi
Bir evi od ṭutsa lā-büd merdüm ana ṣu seper
Müşkilāt-ı zülfüñi söyleşdügince cān u dil
Tīr-i ġamzeñ baḥs̱i ortaya düşüp sözi keser
Yanmayınca ‘ışḳ odıyla ṭutmadı şöhret Münīr
Nūr-ı şem‘ olmaz ziyāde ḳılmayınca terk-i ser

In English

1. From the arrow of your glance my liver has become a beehive (pierced all over); but instead of the hive's honey, blood fills this one (my liver).

2. Whoever sees my eyelashes with their bloody tears says, "So it is a branch of coral grown on the shore of the sea."

3. The heart went open-eyed to the arrow of your glance and gave up its life; what remedy is there, for "when fate comes, the eye goes blind".

4. Because my eyes shed tears, (know that) my breast has burned with the fire of love; if fire seizes a house, a man (and the pupil of the eye) cannot help sprinkling water on it.

5. Whenever soul and heart discuss the knotty problems of your lock, the topic of the arrow of your glance falls into the midst and cuts the talk short.

6. Münîr won no fame until he burned with the fire of love; the light of a candle does not grow until it gives up its head (until its wick is trimmed).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a six-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the fiftieth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 50). The metre is "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The ghazal has no refrain (redif); the rhyme is the sound "-er/-ar": ciger, ṭolar, meger, baṣar, seper, keser, ser. To whom and when it was written is not known.

The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 109a) and Istanbul University (Ü 25a) manuscripts and also in the anthologies of Pervâne Bey (PB 166a) and Edirneli Nazmî (MN 69b). According to the apparatus the fourth couplet is missing in PB; in the fifth couplet Ü reads "tīġ-i" (sword) for "tīr-i" (arrow), and in the sixth couplet PB reads "N'ola" for "Nūr-ı". The Ü reading "sword" gives a more consistent image, since it is a sword that "cuts"; this is our own observation.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet (matla) opens with a vivid comparison. The arrows of the glance have pierced the liver all over and turned it into a beehive. But in this hive blood gathers instead of honey. The congruence (tenasüp) between hive and honey joins with the contrast between honey and blood. In the second couplet the eyelashes wet with bloody tears are likened to branches of coral growing on the seashore; the sea of tears and the red of the coral are thought of together.

In the third couplet an Arabic saying is quoted: "iẕā cā'e'l-ḳażā ‘amiye'l-baṣar", that is, when fate (the decree) comes, the eye goes blind. This is an example of a proverb used in verse (irsal-i mesel). The heart went to the arrow "göz göre göre", open-eyed; that the saying ends with "the eye goes blind" sets up a subtle contrast with this idiom. The TDV notes that Münîrî was successful in setting proverbs and idioms into verse.

In the fourth couplet the word "merdüm" again has two senses: man and the pupil of the eye. When a house burns, people run with water; and the pupil of the eye sprinkles tears while the house of the breast burns. The cause of the tears is thus ascribed to the fire of love in the breast. Identifying this double entendre (tevriye) is our own work. In the fifth couplet the words "müşkilāt" (knotty problems) and "baḥs̱" (dispute) recall the language of disputation in the ghazal with the refrain "bahs" that comes earlier in the edition (tg 33). While soul and heart debate the questions of the lock, the topic of the glance's arrow comes up and cuts the talk short; there is a connection between the "cutting" of the arrow and the cutting short of the talk.

The pen-name couplet closes with the image of the candle. A candle's light grows only when its head, that is, the burnt tip of the wick, is cut; "terk-i ser" in its dictionary sense means giving up one's head, sacrificing one's life. The poet too could not win fame without burning in the fire of love and sacrificing himself. That the expression "terk-i ser" conveys both the trimming of the wick and self-sacrifice is a double entendre; identifying it is our own work.

Bibliography

Online sources