Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Gül-berge şol ki sünbül-i müşgīn niḳāb ider
Mülk-i cihānı ġamzesi siḥri ḫarāb ider
La‘lüñ Yemende yüregini şöyle dem-be-dem
Şīrīn-lebüñ leṭāfeti bir ḳaṭre āb ider
Cām-ı lebüñ şarābı k’anuñ nār-ı ḥasreti
Bezm-i ġam içre baġrumı her dem kebāb ider
Derd ile nālemüzden iñen ġāfil olma kim
Bī-dillerüñ du‘āsını Ḥaḳ müstecāb ider
Her nā-maḥalli kendüye yār idinüp Münīr
Bilsem ki bizden ol neyiçün ictināb ider

In English

1. The magic of the glance of that beauty who makes the musky hyacinth (lock) a veil for the rose petal (cheek) lays waste the realm of the world.

2. The grace of your sweet lip turns the heart of the ruby in Yemen at every moment into a single drop of water (melts it with shame; āb: water, and also the lustre of a gem).

3. The wine in the cup of your lip (is such a wine) that the fire of longing for it makes kebab of my breast at every moment in the gathering of grief.

4. Do not be at all heedless of our lamenting in pain; for God answers the prayer of those who have lost their hearts.

5. Münîr, (the beloved) takes every unworthy person as a friend; if only I knew why she shuns us.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the seventy-sixth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 76). 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); the rhyme is the "-âb" sound before it: niḳāb, ḫarāb, āb, kebāb, müstecāb, ictināb. The poem is found in all three manuscripts of the divan (VT 115a, VY 99b, Ü 33a); 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's cheek is likened to a rose petal and her lock to a musky hyacinth; the lock falls over the cheek like a veil. In the second line the glance is a sorcerer whose magic lays waste the whole realm of the world. The link between "mülk-i cihān" (the realm of the world) and "ḫarāb" (laid waste) likens the beloved's beauty to the destructive power of a conqueror.

The second couplet is not entirely clear, but it can be seen to rest on an image of gems. Yemen is named in classical poetry for its precious stones. The grace of the beloved's lip turns the heart of the ruby in Yemen into a drop of water; the stone that cannot compete with the ruby lip melts with shame. The word "āb" means, in its dictionary sense, both "water" and "lustre, the water of a gem"; the couplet is therefore also open to a double entendre (tevriye). This analysis is our own inference.

The third couplet is built with images of the drinking gathering: "cām" (cup), "şarāb" (wine), "bezm" (gathering) and "kebāb". The lip is a cup, and the wine in it, because it cannot be drunk, turns into the fire of longing and makes kebab of the lover's breast. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between the presence of kebab beside wine at the drinking gathering and the likening of the lover's burning breast to kebab.

The fourth couplet is a warning and a general maxim. The beloved is told not to be heedless of the lover's lament, for God answers the prayer of those who have lost their hearts. "Bī-dil" means, in its dictionary sense, "heartless, one who has lost his heart", and in love poetry it describes the lover. A threat can be sensed in the couplet: if the lover's prayer is answered, the beloved may be affected by it. This is our own inference.

The pen-name couplet is a reproach. The beloved takes every unworthy person as a friend but shuns the lover. "Nā-maḥal" means, in its dictionary sense, "out of place, unworthy". A contrast is drawn between the lover, who speaks of himself as "us", and "every unworthy one" whom the beloved befriends: the unworthy are drawn near, while the one who deserves it is kept at a distance. The ghazal closes without answering this question.

Bibliography

Online sources