Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Bilmezem kim dil-ber içün dil nice tedbīr ider
Bir perī-peykerdür anı nicesi tesḫīr ider
Ṣūretin naḳşın görelden gözlerüm merdümleri
Dem-be-dem levḥ-i zer üzre naḳşlar taṣvīr ider
Dün gice zülf-i siyāhuñ düşüme girdügini
Kime dirsem ‘ömrüm uzunluġına ta‘bīr ider
Āhenīn göñlüñe āhum āh kim kār itmedi
Gerçi āh u nālemüz pūlāda da te’s̱īr ider
Baḫtumı bī-dār iderse ḫᵛāb-ı ġafletden benüm
Her seḥer-gāh āhum ile nāle-i şeb-gīr ider
Yüzüñi sürmek dilersin gerd-i rāhına Münīr
İtmegil nā-geh izi tozını yüzüñ kir ider

In English

1. I do not know what measure the heart takes for the heart-stealer; she is fairy-faced, how can anyone take hold of (subdue) her?

2. Ever since they saw the image of your form, the pupils of my eyes paint designs at every moment on a tablet of gold.

3. Whoever I tell that your black lock entered my dream last night interprets (it) as the length of my life.

4. My sigh, alas, has not availed with your iron heart; yet our sighs and laments have an effect even on steel.

5. What wakes my fortune from the sleep of heedlessness is, every dawn, my night-long lament together with my sigh. The couplet can be read in two ways: it can also be understood as "if anything wakes my fortune, my dawn sighs and night laments do so".

6. Münîr, you wish to rub your face in the dust of her path; do not, lest your face suddenly sully the dust of her footprints.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a six-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the eightieth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 80). The metre is "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". Ersoy's list of refrains places this ghazal among those with the refrain (redif) "ider" (makes, does); the rhyme is the "-îr" sound before it: tedbīr, tesḫīr, taṣvīr, ta‘bīr, te's̱īr, şeb-gīr and kir. The Turkish word "kir" (dirt) in the last couplet matches this rhyme only approximately, with its short vowel; this is our own observation. The poem is found in all three manuscripts of the divan (VT 116a, VY 103a, Ü 31b). A variant is recorded in the apparatus for the word "ṣūretin" in the second couplet, but since the special letters of the footnote could not be printed in the edition and no manuscript siglum appears in the footnote, the reading cannot be fully recovered. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In the opening couplet (matla) the beloved is thought of as a fairy. "Tesḫīr" means, in its dictionary sense, "taking possession, subduing by magic"; the idea that fairies can be subdued only by magic expresses the impossibility of reaching the beloved. There is also a closeness of sound between "tedbīr" (remedy, measure) and "tesḫīr".

The second couplet rests on an image from the art of painting. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among the words "ṣūret" (form, image), "naḳş" (design), "levḥ" (tablet) and "taṣvīr" (depiction). Having seen the beloved's form, the pupils of the eyes ceaselessly work designs on a tablet of gold. It may be thought that the golden tablet is the lover's yellowed face and the designs are tears; this is an inference.

The third couplet is the interpretation of a dream. Last night the lover saw the beloved's black lock in his dream; whoever he tells interprets it as the length of his life. The link between the length of the lock and the length of life is the basis of this interpretation. "Ta‘bīr" means, in its dictionary sense, the interpretation of a dream.

In the fourth couplet there is a play of sound between "āh" (sigh) and "āhenīn" (of iron); the line repeats the same sound three times: "āhenīn göñlüñe āhum āh". There is also a congruence of images between "āhen" (iron) and "pūlād" (steel). The lover's sigh penetrates even steel, but it does not penetrate the beloved's iron heart. This analysis of sound is our own observation.

The fifth couplet sets up a contrast of time between "seḥer-gāh" (dawn) and "şeb-gīr" (lasting all night). There is also a contrast between "bī-dār" (awake) and "ḫᵛāb" (sleep). The pen-name couplet, for its part, reverses a familiar image of humility. The lover wishes to rub his face in the dust of the beloved's path; but the poet warns him: his face might sully that dust. The idiom "yüz sürmek" means, in its dictionary sense, to lay one's face on something in reverence; here even the lover's face is reckoned lower than the dust of the beloved's path.

Bibliography

Online sources