Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ol serv-i ġonca-leb ki hemān gül budaġıdur
Cān gül-şen-i cihānda bugün ḥüsn bāġıdur
Geh geh ḫarābesine raḳībüñ nedür varup
Menzil-geh-i melek m’olur ol it yataġıdur
Zencīr-i zülfüñ ile ki bunca belā çeker
Uṣlanmadı daḫı dil-i Mecnūn bayaġıdur
Rūz-ı ezelde ḳısmet olan ḫaste göñlüme
Gālib budur ki derdüñ ile ġam bucaġıdur
Pür-nūr olursa ḫāne-i dil ṭañ mıdur Münīr
Şem‘-i cemāl bezm-geh-i dil çerāġıdur

In English

1. That rosebud-lipped cypress is just a branch of roses; that soul (the beloved) is today the garden of beauty in the rose garden of the world. The couplet can be read in two ways: the word "cān" can also be taken as an address, "O soul".

2. What business have you going now and then to your rival's ruin? Is that the lodging of an angel? It is the bed of that dog.

3. The Mecnun heart that suffers so many calamities through the chain of your lock has still not come to its senses; it is as it was before (bayaġı: as before, in its old state).

4. What fell to the lot of my sick heart on the day of pre-eternity (the day of creation) is, it seems, a corner of grief (filled) with your pain.

5. Münîr, is it a wonder if the house of the heart is filled with light? The candle of (the beloved's) beauty is the lamp of the heart's gathering.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the sixty-sixth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 66). The metre is "mef‘ûlü fâ‘ilâtü mefâ‘îlü fâ‘ilün". Ersoy's list of refrains places this ghazal among those with the refrain (redif) "-ıdur" (it is); the rhyme is the "-aġ" sound before it: budaġ, bāġ, yataġ, bayaġ, bucaġ, çerāġ. It is notable that most of the rhyme words are Turkish: budak (branch), yatak (bed), bayağı (as before) and bucak (corner) are Turkish, while bāġ (garden) and çerāġ (lamp) are Persian. The poem is found in all three manuscripts of the divan (VT 113a, VY 101a, Ü 34a); 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 beloved turns first into a cypress, then into a branch of roses, and then into an entire garden of beauty. The rosebud lip, the cypress stature and the rose branch are parts of the same garden; "gül-şen-i cihān" (the rose garden of the world) spreads this garden over the whole world. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among garden, rose, rosebud and cypress.

The second couplet is a reproach directed at the beloved. The beloved goes now and then to the rival's ruin; the lover finds this meaningless, for that place is not the lodging of an angel but the bed of a dog. The contrast between "menzil-geh-i melek" (lodging of an angel) and "it yataġı" (dog's bed) sets the beloved's angelic loftiness against the baseness of the rival. Likening the rival to a dog is seen in other ghazals of Münîrî as well; for example, the fourth couplet of tg 57 has "seg raḳīb" (the cur of a rival).

In the third couplet the heart is likened to Mecnun. Mecnun is thought of as a madman put in chains; the chain is the beloved's lock. Despite so many calamities the heart has not come to its senses and has remained as it was. The word "bayaġı" is not used in today's sense of "bayağı" (vulgar) but in its dictionary sense of "as before, as of old". The TDV article states that many archaic words are found in Münîrî's poems; "bayaġı" is an example of this. This observation is our own.

The fourth couplet rests on the idea of "rūz-ı ezel" (the day of pre-eternity): the fate of human beings was fixed on the day of creation. The share that fell to the lover's heart is a corner of grief. The word "bucak" means, in its dictionary sense, "corner"; that the lover's lot is as narrow as a corner makes the grief all the denser.

The pen-name couplet closes with words of light. There is a congruence of images among "pür-nūr" (full of light), "şem‘" (candle) and "çerāġ" (lamp). The pen name "Münīr" means, in its dictionary sense, "illuminating", and as owner of the house of the heart that fills with light it takes part in this congruence. The word "ṭañ" is also an old Turkish word meaning, in its dictionary sense, "a thing to wonder at".

Bibliography

Online sources