Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün fe‘ūlün

Ne var bālā-bülend ise ṣanavber
Degüldür serv-ḳaddüñ birle hem-ser
Görenler ḳāmetüñ servin didiler
Te‘ālā şānuhū Allāhü ekber
Aṣıldı öykünüp şīrīn lebüñe
Belī ber-sūḳ idi kelle-şekker
Bahār eyyāmıdur ey zāhid-i ḫuşk
‘Aceb mi nūş idersem āteş-i ter
Kimi yaḳmaz Münīrī nār-ı ḥasret
Ne var yandıysa şöyle şem‘ ü micmer

In English

1. What does it matter how tall the pine may be? It is no match for your cypress stature.

2. Those who saw the cypress of your stature said "Te‘ālā şānuhū, Allāhü ekber" (exalted is His glory, God is most great).

3. For imitating your sweet lip the kelle şeker (sugarloaf; kelle: also head) was hanged; yes, (its place) was the market.

4. O dry ascetic, these are the days of spring; is it a wonder if I drink the wet fire (wine)?

5. Münîrî, whom does the fire of longing not burn? What if the candle and the censer too have burned in this way?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the seventy-seventh of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 77). The metre is "mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün fe‘ûlün". The ghazal has no refrain (redif); its absence from Ersoy's list of refrains also shows this. The rhyme rests on the sound "-er": ṣanavber, hem-ser, ekber, şekker, ter, micmer. The poem is found in all three manuscripts of the divan (VT 115b, VY 100a, Ü 33b); no variant readings are recorded in the apparatus. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is a light and playful poem in a short metre. The opening couplet and the second couplet exalt the beloved's stature. However tall the pine may be, it is no match for the beloved's cypress stature. In the second couplet those who see this stature say in admiration "Te‘ālā şānuhū, Allāhü ekber". The placing of this Arabic formula of praise in the rhyme of a Turkish ghazal is notable; the word "ekber" completes the rhyme. This is our own observation.

The third couplet is the most playful of the ghazal. "Kelle-şekker" means, in its dictionary sense, sugar cast in a loaf. The word "kelle" also means "head". The sugar has been "hanged" for imitating the beloved's sweet lip; it has been punished like a criminal whose head is hung up. The phrase "ber-sūḳ" (in the market) in the second line, meanwhile, suggests the sugarloaf hanging for sale in the market. Thus the couplet turns the sight of sugar in the market into a scene of punishment. This analysis is our own inference.

The fourth couplet works the contrast between the rind and the ascetic. The ascetic is described as "ḫuşk" (dry), and wine is named "āteş-i ter" (wet fire). There is a contrast between dry and wet; that wine is both burning like fire and liquid is united in the phrase "wet fire". The naturalness of drinking wine in the days of spring is set against the dryness of the ascetic. That spring is the season of greenery and freshness also supports the meaning of the word "ter"; the word means, in its dictionary sense, both "wet" and "fresh". The ascetic's dryness is thus at odds with the season as well, and the rind who drinks wine stands on the side of the season. This is our own observation.

The pen-name couplet closes with the image of fire. The fire of longing burns everyone; it is no wonder if the candle and the censer too have burned in this way. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among "nār" (fire), "şem‘" (candle) and "micmer" (censer). The "āteş-i ter" of the fourth couplet and the "nār-ı ḥasret" (fire of longing) of the pen-name couplet set two different uses of the word fire side by side.

Bibliography

Online sources