Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ol büt-i çābük-süvār ey dil ki şehler mīridür
Bāc alur Çīn ü Ḫıṭādan Ḫüsrev-i Keşmīrīdür
Türk-i tīr-endāzuña ṣandūḳa sīne olalı
Yüregümi ḫūn iden ḍarb ile ġamzeñ tīridür
Şol ḳadar ṭaş ile dögdüm sīne-i pür-sūzı kim
Şöyle od çıḳduġı ṭaşdan hep anuñ te’s̱īridür
Düşme zülf-i ser-keşi pāyına dirdüm göñlüme
Eslemezdi sözümi her ne çekerse yiridür
Dün gice düşümde gördüm ġamzesi nevkin Münīr
Ḳanumı dökdügi şöyle ol düşüñ ta‘bīridür

In English

1. O heart, that nimble-riding idol (beauty), who is the commander of kings, is a Khosrow (sovereign) of Kashmir who takes tribute from China and Cathay.

2. Ever since my breast became a chest (where arrows gather) for your archer Turk (the beloved), what turns my heart to blood with its blow is the arrow of your glance.

3. I beat my burning breast so much with stones that the fire that comes out of the stone in this way is all the effect of that (burning breast).

4. I told my heart, "Do not fall at the feet of the rebellious lock"; it would not heed my words, (now) whatever it suffers, it deserves.

5. Münîr, last night in my dream I saw the arrow of her glance; her shedding my blood is the interpretation of that dream.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the sixty-fourth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 64). 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 "-îri" sound before it: mīri, Keşmīrī, tīri, te's̱īri, yiri, ta‘bīri. The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 112a) and Vienna (VY 97b) manuscripts. In the manuscript note the third entry is printed only as "30b", without a manuscript siglum; it is probably the folio of the Istanbul University manuscript, which is an inference. One variant is recorded in the apparatus: in VT "anuñ" is written instead of "ġamzeñ" in the second couplet. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet (matla) draws the beloved as a sovereign. She is a nimble rider who is the commander of kings; a sovereign of Kashmir who takes tribute from China and Cathay. China, Cathay and Kashmir are distant lands named in classical poetry for their beauties; that she takes tribute from these lands is a way of saying that the beloved stands above all beauties. This interpretation is our own inference. The word "Ḫüsrev" means, in its dictionary sense, "sovereign".

In the second couplet the beloved is called "Türk-i tīr-endāz" (the archer Turk). In divan poetry the word "Turk" is used for the beautiful and cruel beloved; its pairing with archery reinforces this sense. The lover's breast has become a chest in which these arrows gather. We take it that the word "ṣandūḳa" is used here in the sense of a container that holds arrows; this is an inference, and the couplet may be understood otherwise.

The third couplet sets up a play of cause and effect. The lover beats his burning breast with stones; that fire comes out of the stone is not the stone's own property but the effect of the burning of the breast. The known relation between stone and flint is tied, by way of hüsn-i talil (a fanciful attribution of cause), to the lover's burning. This interpretation is our own observation.

In the fourth couplet the heart is like a child that does not listen. Its falling at the feet of the "ser-keş" (rebellious, literally head-raising) lock sets up a contrast between head and foot: one falls at the feet of the lock that raises its head. The heart did not heed the warning; now whatever it suffers, it has deserved.

The pen-name couplet is the interpretation of a dream. The lover has seen the arrow of the glance in his dream; that arrow's shedding of his blood is the "ta‘bīr", the interpretation and fulfilment, of the dream. There is a closeness of sound between "düşme" (do not fall) in the fourth couplet and "düş" (dream) in the fifth; this is our own observation.

Bibliography

Online sources