Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Zülfüñ ‘arūs-ı ḥüsnüñi gerçi kinār ider
‘Uşşāḳı her ṭarafda iñen bī-ḳarār ider
La‘l-i lebüñle n’ola dehānuñ bilindise
Her gizlü rāzı şöyle şarāb āşkār ider
Sen Ḫüsrevüñ yolında gözüm yaşını lebüñ
Şīrīn degül mi şöyle ki Gül-gūn süvār ider
Zülfüñ ḥisābınuñ ṭuyalı ‘ıḳdı yolını
Her sā‘ati göñūl baña rūz şumār ider
Ṭolaşma zülfine didügüñce ṭolaşdı dil
Vallāh naṣīḥatüñ ki Münīr aña kār ider

In English

1. Although your lock embraces (kinār: embrace, edge) the bride of your beauty, it makes the lovers on every side utterly restless.

2. What if the (place of) your mouth has become known through your ruby lip? This is how wine brings every hidden secret to light.

3. O my Khosrow, on your path your lip mounts my tears on Gülgûn (the rose-coloured horse) and makes them gallop; is it not Şirin (both sweet and Shirin) that it does so?

4. Ever since the heart learned the knotted way of reckoning of your lock, it counts every hour as a day for me (the hours grow as long as days). The couplet is not entirely clear; the word "‘ıḳd" means, in its dictionary sense, both "knot" and a way of counting on the fingers.

5. As often as I said "do not get entangled in her lock", the heart got entangled; by God, Münîr, your advice avails it (greatly), that is, not at all.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the seventy-second of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 72). 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) "ider" (makes, does); the rhyme is the "-âr" sound before it: kinār, bī-ḳarār, āşkār, süvār, şumār, kār. The poem is found in all three manuscripts of the divan (VT 114a, VY 101b, Ü 31a); 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) beauty is thought of as a bride, and the lock as a spouse who embraces her. The word "kinār" means, in its dictionary sense, both "edge" and "embrace"; since the lock lies at the edge of the face, the two senses work together. The lock's embracing of beauty makes the lovers restless with jealousy. There is also a closeness of sound between "kinār" and "ḳarār"; this is our own observation.

The second couplet is built on the beloved's mouth. In classical poetry the beloved's mouth is so small that it cannot be seen; it is like a secret. The poet does not find it surprising that this secret becomes known through the ruby lip, for wine brings every hidden secret to light. There is a congruence of colour between the red of the ruby lip and the red of wine, and a likeness between the drunkard's inability to keep a secret and the lip's betrayal of the mouth.

The third couplet alludes (telmih) to the story of Khosrow and Shirin. The beloved is addressed as "Ḫüsrev"; the word "Şīrīn" is both the adjective "sweet" and the name of the heroine of the story, and so it carries a double entendre (tevriye). "Gül-gūn" means, in its dictionary sense, "rose-coloured"; in the story it is known as the name of Shirin's horse. The lover's bloody tears are made to gallop like a rose-coloured horse. These relations rest on general knowledge, and the solution of the couplet is our own inference.

The fourth couplet is not entirely clear. There is a congruence of reckoning among the words "ḥisāb" (account), "‘ıḳd" (knot, finger-reckoning) and "şumār" (number). The heart that counts the knots of the lock finds every hour as long as a day.

The pen-name couplet closes with irony. The poet advised his heart not to get entangled in the lock; but the more the advice went unheeded, the more the heart got entangled. We take it that the second line, "vallāh naṣīḥatüñ ki Münīr aña kār ider" (by God, Münîr, your advice avails it), says mockingly that the advice was of no use; this is an inference. There is a derivation (iştikak) between "ṭolaşma" (do not get entangled) and "ṭolaşdı" (got entangled).

Bibliography

Online sources