Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef ‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün

Dil kim ṣaçuñ girihlerine vird-i mū çeker
Çāh-ı zeneḫden ol bize beñzer ki ṣu çeker
Zülfüñ ki şöyle ser-ḫoş olup her yaña düşer
Beñzer ki cām-ı la‘l-i lebüñden ṭolu çeker
Zülf-i siyāhuña ṭolaşupdur nesīm-i ṣubḥ
Her yaña şöyle bī-ser ü pā bini bū çeker
Her zülf-i ḫam ki görse düşer der-peyine dil
Āḫirde dāra bilürem anı bu ḫū çeker
Kimdür Münīrī dirse diyüñ şeyḫ-i şehre kim
Şoldur ki bezm-i pīr-i muġāna sebū çeker

In English

1. The heart that recites a litany hair by hair on the knots of your hair (counting each strand again and again like a prayer) seems to us like one who draws water from the well of your chin.

2. Your lock, which falls this way and that as if drunk, seems to drink brimming cups from the ruby goblet of your lip.

3. The morning breeze has become entangled in your black lock; it carries a thousand scents in every direction, bewildered, without head or foot.

4. The heart runs after every curling lock it sees; I know that in the end this habit will draw it to the gallows.

5. If the sheikh of the city asks "Who is Münîrî?", tell him: he is the one who carries the wine jar to the gathering of the elder of the Magi (the master of the tavern).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the fifty-first of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 51). The metre is "mef ‘ûlü fâ‘ilâtü mefâ‘îlü fâ‘ilün". The refrain (redif) is the verb "çeker" (draws, pulls); Ersoy's list of refrains also gives this ghazal with the refrain "çeker". The rhyme is the sound "-û": mū, ṣu, ṭolu, bū, ḫū, sebū. The poem is found in all three manuscripts of the divan (VT 109a, VY 94a, Ü 25b). According to the apparatus, in the first couplet VT reads "virdi mū" and Ü "vardı ṣu" for "vird-i mū". To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The most striking feature of the ghazal is that the verb "çekmek", which forms the refrain, is used in a different sense in each couplet. In the opening couplet (matla) the heart recites a litany (vird çekmek) and draws water from a well; in the second couplet the lock drains cups, that is, drinks; in the third the wind carries scent; in the fourth habit drags the heart to the gallows; in the pen-name couplet the poet carries the jar. The opening of the refrain onto so many different senses fits Münîrî's fondness for playing with words. The TDV writes that the poet successfully used every kind of pun (cinas); this observation is ours.

The image of the opening couplet is obscure but can be solved. "Vird" in its dictionary sense is a prayer repeated at regular times; dervishes count the beads of a rosary as they recite their litany. The heart counts every strand in the knots of the hair like a bead of a rosary. Since a strand of hair is long like a rope, the heart resembles one who draws a rope from the well of the chin and brings up water. The comparison of the chin-dimple to a well is a known conceit (mazmun) in divan poetry. With the Ü reading "vardı ṣu" the line gains a plainer sense, like "went to draw water".

In the second couplet the scattering of the lock in every direction is attributed to drunkenness: the lock has drunk from the goblet of the lip. This is a poetic aetiology (hüsn-i talil). In the third couplet the dawn breeze has become entangled in the lock and carries its scent everywhere; the phrase "bī-ser ü pā" (without head or foot) conveys the bewilderment of the wind. In the fourth couplet there is the connection of the rope between the lock and the gallows (dār); the heart that runs after curling locks will in the end be hanged with one of those ropes.

The pen-name couplet is a libertine declaration of identity. If the sheikh of the city, that is, the representative of official piety, asks about Münîrî, he should be told that the poet is one who carries the jar to the gathering of the master of the tavern. The opposition between the sheikh and the elder of the Magi is a known example of the setting of the ascetic against the libertine (rind) in divan poetry.

Bibliography

Online sources