Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Rīşte-i cān ile peykānuñ ki zeyn-i sīnedür
Ḫāne-i dilde aṣılmış ṣanki bir āyīnedür
Şol dehān-ı ḥoḳḳa-i pür-gevherüñ fikriyle dil
Gūyiyā bir genc-i ġayb ile ṭolu gencīnedür
Na‘ra-i bī-hūde ṣıġmaz meclis-i ‘uşşāḳda
Ṣanma ey ṣūfī ki bu da mescid-i ādīnedür
Gözlerüm yaşı ‘aḳīḳ olduġı ey reşk-i Süheyl
Mihr-i ruḫsāruñ ḥaḳı la‘l-i lebüñ yādınadur
Dün ġazelde adumuz görüp didi kimdür Münīr
Didüm oldur kim kemīne-bende-i dīrīnedür

In English

1. The arrowhead of your arrow, which together with the thread of my life is the ornament of my breast, is as if it were a mirror hung in the house of the heart.

2. With the thought of that mouth of yours, a casket full of jewels, the heart is as if it were a treasure chest filled with a hidden treasure.

3. Idle shouting has no place in the gathering of lovers; O Sufi, do not think that this too is a Friday mosque.

4. O beauty envied by the star Canopus (Süheyl), by the right of the sun of your cheek, if the tears of my eyes have become carnelian (red as carnelian), it is from the memory of your ruby lip.

5. Yesterday, seeing our name in a ghazal, he asked "Who is Münîr?"; I said: he is your old and humble servant.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the fifty-fourth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 54). The metre is "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". Ersoy's list of refrains places this ghazal among those with the refrain (redif) "-dür" (it is); the rhyme is the "-îne" sound before it: sīne, āyīne, gencīne, ādīne, dīrīne. The word "yādınadur" in the fourth couplet matches this rhyme in sound only approximately; this is our own observation. The poem is found in all three manuscripts of the divan (VT 110a, VY 95a, Ü 27a); no variant readings are recorded in the apparatus. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet (matla) builds an unusual comparison. The beloved's arrow has pierced the lover's breast; the bright iron head of the arrow (peykān), together with "the thread of life", is likened to a mirror hanging in the house of the heart. A mirror is hung on the wall by a cord; the arrowhead too rests in the breast tied to the cord of life. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among "rīşte" (thread), "āyīne" (mirror) and "ḫāne" (house). Counting the arrow as the "ornament" (zeyn) of the breast shows that the lover bears the pain like a gift.

In the second couplet the mouth is likened to a casket (ḥoḳḳa) full of jewels; the teeth are the pearls within the casket. The heart that thinks of this mouth becomes a chest filled with a hidden treasure. "Genc" (treasure) and "gencīne" (treasure chest) come from the same root; this is an example of derivation (iştikak).

The third couplet carries a criticism aimed at the Sufi. "Mescid-i ādīne" in its dictionary sense is a Friday mosque. Idle shouting has no place in the gathering of lovers; this is not the place for loud piety. The reading that the Sufi's shouting is likened to showy worship in the Friday crowd is our own inference. In divan poetry the praise of the lover's silent love against the display of the ascetic and the Sufi is a known theme.

In the fourth couplet the star "Süheyl" (Canopus) and the "‘aḳīḳ" (carnelian) stone are named together. In divan poetry the idea that Yemeni carnelian gains its colour with the rising of Canopus is a known conceit (mazmun). The beloved is a beauty envied even by Canopus; the lover's tears have reddened like carnelian because he remembers the ruby lip. There is a congruence of colour among carnelian, ruby and the sun.

The pen-name couplet is a scene that turns to the poet's own poetry. The beloved has seen the name Münîr in a ghazal and asked who he is. The poet presents himself as the beloved's old and humble servant. In the pen-name couplet of tg 51, which comes a little earlier in the edition, the question "Kimdür Münīrī" (who is Münîrî) is also asked; there it is the sheikh of the city who asks.

Bibliography

Online sources