Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Dil serv-ḳāmetüñde ki kesb-i hevā ider
Āḫir gözüm yaşın baña seyl-i fenā ider
‘Ayş-ı tamāma irdi göñül nice nıṣf-ı ‘ayş
Ẕikr-i lebüñle şöyle ki ẕevḳ u ṣafā ider
Şunlar ki ḥūr-ı ‘īne izi tozı sürmedür
Gerd-i rehüñi gözlerine tūtyā ider
Ḫᵛār u ḥaḳīr ider beni geh vaḳthā ġamuñ
Geh bilmezem ki yine nedür pādşā ider
Göster Münīre yüzüñi luṭf it du‘āsın al
Ḥaḳ ḥācetini çün ki ġarībüñ revā ider

In English

1. As the heart gains longing (and air) for your cypress stature, in the end it turns my tears into a flood of annihilation for me.

2. How the heart, from half a life (a half delight), has reached a whole life; with the mention of your lip it so takes its joy and pleasure. The couplet can be read in two ways; the word "‘ayş" means both living and revelry, a drinking gathering.

3. Even those beauties the dust of whose footprints is kohl for the dark-eyed houris make the dust of your path a collyrium (tutya) for their eyes.

4. At times your sorrow makes me low and despised; at times, I know not why, it makes me a king again.

5. Show your face to Münîr, be gracious, receive his prayer; for God fulfils the wish of the stranger far from home.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the fifty-fifth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 55). The metre is "mef ‘ûlü fâ‘ilâtü mefâ‘îlü fâ‘ilün". The refrain (redif) is the verb "ider" (makes, does); Ersoy's list of refrains also places this ghazal among those with the refrain "ider". The rhyme is the sound "-â": hevā, fenā, ṣafā, tūtyā, pādşā, revā. The poem is found in all three manuscripts of the divan (VT 110a, VY 95b, 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

In the opening couplet (matla) the word "hevā" has two senses: in its dictionary sense it means both air, wind, and desire, longing. The swaying of the cypress in the wind and the heart's longing for the cypress stature are thought of together. The end of this longing is the turning of tears into a flood of annihilation (seyl-i fenā). There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) taken from nature between air and flood; identifying this double entendre (tevriye) is our own work.

The second couplet is obscure. "‘Ayş" in its dictionary sense means both living, life, and revelry, a drinking gathering; the opposition between "nıṣf-ı ‘ayş" (half an ‘ayş) and "‘ayş-ı tamām" (a whole ‘ayş) conveys the heart's passage from an incomplete life to complete happiness. The cause of this passage is the mention of the lip. The pair "ẕevḳ u ṣafā" (joy and pleasure) supports the sense of revelry in the word ‘ayş.

The third couplet sets up an order of precedence. The dark-eyed houris of paradise use as kohl the dust of the footprints of certain beauties; and those beauties take the dust of the beloved's path as a remedy for their eyes. Thus the beloved is set above even the houris. There is a congruence between "sürme" (kohl) and "tūtyā" (collyrium); that the dust of the path is a remedy for the eye is a known conceit (mazmun) in divan poetry.

In the fourth couplet it is said that sorrow at one time makes the lover low and despised, and at another makes him a king. The contrast between "ḫᵛār" (despised) and "pādşā" (king) conveys the contradictory effect of love that both abases and exalts. The idea that the sorrow of love exalts the lover spiritually may lie beneath the couplet; this is our own inference.

The pen-name couplet closes with a plea. The poet asks the beloved to show his face and in return receive his prayer. The word "ġarīb" in its dictionary sense means one fallen far from his homeland, a person without kin. The belief that the stranger's wish will be granted joins with the poet's presenting himself as a stranger and gives force to the plea.

Bibliography

Online sources