Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Leylī ṣaçuñ ki göñlüm anuñ mübtelāsıdur
Bes ben bu çekdügüm dil-i Mecnūn belāsıdur
Bī-çāre ḫūn-behāsını yir yine kendünüñ
La‘l-i lebüñ ḫayāli ki rūḥuñ ġıdāsıdur
Ḳaşuñ ḫayāli merdümek-i dīdemüñ müdām
Deryā-yı eşke gireli ḳıble-nümāsıdur
Her dem ‘ıyādet-i dil içün geldügi ġamuñ
Çoḳdan bu ḫaste göñlümüñ ol āşnāsıdur
Aldanduñ ise ālına ol ḳara gözlerüñ
Ġam yime ol Münīrī saña uṣ behāsıdur

In English

1. My heart is enthralled by your hair, black as night (and like Leylâ); so what I suffer is the affliction of a Mecnun-heart.

2. The image of your ruby lip, which is the food of your soul, itself consumes again the blood-money of the helpless lover. The couplet is obscure; on one reading the lip that kills the lover also takes his blood-money for itself.

3. Ever since the pupil of my eye entered the sea of tears, the image of your brow has always been its qibla-compass.

4. Because sorrow comes at every moment to visit the heart (as one visits the sick), it has long been an old acquaintance of this sick heart of mine.

5. If you have been deceived by the guile of those black eyes, do not grieve; here is Münîrî, their price for you.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the fifty-second of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 52). The metre is "mef ‘ûlü fâ‘ilâtü mefâ‘îlü fâ‘ilün". The refrain (redif) is "-sıdur" (it is his); Ersoy's list of refrains also gives this ghazal with the refrain "-sIdur". The rhyme is the sound "-â": mübtelā, belā, ġıdā, ḳıble-nümā, āşnā, behā. To whom and when it was written is not known.

The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 109b) and Vienna (VY 94a) manuscripts and also in the anthologies of Pervâne Bey (PB 209a) and Edirneli Nazmî (MN 138b). According to the apparatus PB reads "Pes" for "Bes" in the first couplet and "gözlinüñ" for "gözlerüñ" in the fifth; in the same couplet the PB reading for "uṣ" (here is) cannot be fully made out, because its letters could not be printed in the edition.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet (matla) is built on an allusion to the story of Leylâ and Mecnun. The word "Leylī" in its dictionary sense means "of the night, like the night", and at the same time recalls the name Leylâ. The hair is both black as night and a Leylâ; the heart that falls for it becomes Mecnun. Identifying this double entendre (tevriye) is our own work. The lover says that the pain he suffers comes not from himself but from his Mecnun-heart.

The second couplet is the most obscure place in the ghazal. "Ḫūn-behā" in its dictionary sense is blood-money, the compensation paid for a person who has been killed. The beloved's lip has killed the lover; but instead of paying the blood-money, it consumes it itself. The naming of the image of the lip as "the food of the soul" sets up a congruence (tenasüp) between the words eating and food. Whose soul is meant is not certain; "rūḥuñ" may be understood as the beloved's soul, or it may be the lover addressing himself.

The third couplet is an image of finding one's way. The pupil fallen into the sea of tears finds its way by the image of the brow; the brow becomes the compass that shows it the qibla. In divan poetry the likening of the brow to a prayer niche (mihrab) is a known conceit, and the mihrab shows the qibla; identifying this link is our own work. In the fourth couplet "‘iyādet" in its dictionary sense is visiting the sick. Since sorrow keeps visiting the sick heart, it has become an old acquaintance; the turning of pain into a friend is the light irony of the couplet.

In the pen-name couplet the word "āl" in its dictionary sense means guile; it sets up a closeness of sound with "aldanmak" (to be deceived). Comfort is offered to whoever has been deceived by the guile of the black eyes: Münîrî is their price. The word "behā" (price) connects with "ḫūn-behā" in the second couplet. The word "uṣ" is an old Turkish word meaning "here is".

Bibliography

Online sources