Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Tīġüñ üzre görinen cevher degüldür Ḫüsrevā
Cān deminde nāḫun-ı ‘uşşāḳ irüpdür hep aña
Serv ḳaldı ṭurduġı yirde ḳuru aġaç gibi
Ḳaddüñe öykünmegin şol deñlü let k’urdı ṣabā
Ṭıfl-ı eşküm ḳan ile olmışdur ey dil müttehem
Redd iderse gözlerüm merdümleri anı n’ola
Cān-ı şīrīnüñ gerekse saña ey dil key ṣaḳın
Ġamzesine ḳarşu varma görinü gelmez ḳażā
N’ola zülfüñe giriftār isem ey bedr-i Münīr
Her kişi bir derde olmışdur cihānda mübtelā

In English

1. O Khosrow (sultan of beauty), what appears on your sword is not its damask grain; at the moment of giving up their lives, the lovers' fingernails all reached it and left their marks there.

2. Because the cypress tried to imitate your stature, the morning breeze beat it so hard that it stood where it was like a dry tree.

3. O heart, my child of tears is accused of shedding blood; if my eyes (my pupils, my people) drive it away and turn it out, is that any wonder?

4. O heart, if you want your sweet life, beware, do not go before his glance; fate does not come in plain sight.

5. O radiant full moon of Münîr, what wonder if I am caught in your tresses; in this world everyone has fallen prey to some sorrow.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the eighth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 8). The metre is "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The ghazal has no refrain (redif); the rhyme is the sound "-ā": Ḫüsrevā, aña, ṣabā, n'ola, ḳażā, mübtelā. In the words "aña" and "n'ola" the rhyme rests only on the final sound. The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 100b), Vienna (VY 81a) and Istanbul University (Ü 19a) manuscripts, and also in the anthologies of Pervâne Bey (PB 14b) and Nazmî of Edirne (MN 4b); the apparatus shows no variant readings. To whom and when it was written is not known. The pen name appears in the last couplet in the form "Münīr".

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The main theme of the ghazal is the deadly beauty of the beloved and the lover's being doomed to that beauty. In the opening couplet (matla) the beloved is called "Ḫüsrev"; in its dictionary sense this name is the title of the old kings of Iran, and in divan poetry it is used for a sultan or a sovereign of beauty. The "cevher" on the sword, in its dictionary sense, is the wavy pattern seen on the surface of well-forged steel. The poet explains this pattern as the fingernail marks of lovers who clutched the sword as they died. Because a poetic cause is found for a real sight, the couplet is a fine example of poetic aetiology (hüsn-i talil).

In the second couplet the cypress standing motionless like a dry tree is ascribed to its having been beaten by the morning breeze for imitating the beloved's stature. The idiom "let urmak" in its dictionary sense means to beat, to thrash. The breeze here is like a watchman guarding the beloved's rights.

The third couplet rests on a double entendre (tevriye). The word "merdüm" in its dictionary sense means both the pupil of the eye and a person; "ṭıfl-ı eşk" (child of tears) is used in divan poetry for the tear born of the eye. When the bloody tear is accused of "shedding blood", the eye's people, that is, its pupils, drive it out; the falling and departing of the tear is explained by this banishment. This play between bloody tears and the crime of blood is our own observation.

In the fourth couplet the lover advises his own heart: the beloved's glance is like fate, and fate does not announce its coming. The second half of the line is shaped like a proverb. In the pen-name couplet the phrase "bedr-i Münīr" can be read in two ways: "the full moon of Münîr" and "the radiant full moon". The word "münīr" in its dictionary sense means light-giving, radiant; by using his pen name as if it were an epithet of the full moon, the poet makes a double entendre (tevriye). The last line ends with a general judgement that everyone in the world has fallen into some sorrow, and so the couplet uses a proverb (irsal-i mesel).

Bibliography

Online sources