Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Her gice dil ḫayālüñi mihmān alur gider
Gör himmet-i gedāyı ki sulṭān alur gider
Aldı ḫayāl-i ġamzeñi gerçi gider göñül
Dīvānedür ki uġruyı mihmān alur gider
‘Işḳuñ yolında şöyle ki teslīm-i cān idem
Biñ ‘izzet ile cennete Rıḍvān alur gider
Ol Türk-i ser-ḫoşuñ ḳılıcından ki ḳan ṭamar
Her ḳandayısa gövdeleri ḳan alur gider
Şevḳ-ı cemāli odlara yaḳup beni Münīr
Her bezm-gāha şem‘-i şebistān alur gider

In English

1. Every night the heart takes your image home as its guest; behold the high spirit of this beggar, who takes a sultan home (as his guest).

2. Though the heart takes the image of your glance home, (let it know that) it is mad, for it takes a thief home as a guest.

3. Let me surrender my soul on the path of your love in such a way that Rıdvan (the keeper of Paradise) takes me to Paradise with a thousand honours.

4. Blood drips from the sword of that drunken Turk (the beauty); wherever he may be, blood carries the bodies away (a flood of blood sweeps them off).

5. Münîr, longing for his beauty burns me in fires and carries me, like the candle of the night chamber, to every gathering.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the eighty-seventh of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 87). The metre is "mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün". Ersoy's list of refrains gives the ghazal the refrain (redif) "alur gider" (takes away, carries off); the rhyme is the "-ān" sound before it: mihmān, sulṭān, mihmān, Rıḍvān, ḳan and şebistān. The word "mihmān" (guest) in the first line of the first couplet is used again as a rhyme in the second couplet; this repetition of the rhyme is our own observation. The ghazal is found in all three manuscripts of the divan (VT 117b, VY 99a, Ü 32b). No variant readings are given in the apparatus. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The refrain "alur gider" (takes and goes, carries off) describes a different act of carrying in each couplet: the heart takes the image home as a guest, Rıdvan takes the lover to Paradise, a flood of blood sweeps the bodies away, and longing carries the lover like a candle from gathering to gathering.

The first two couplets are two faces of the same scene. In the opening couplet (matla) the heart is a beggar, and the beloved's image is a sultan. For a beggar to host a sultan in his home every night is reckoned an act of great generosity of spirit. The contrast between "gedā" (beggar) and "sulṭān" is the basis of the couplet. In the second couplet the guest is the image of the glance; the glance is known as a thief that steals hearts. One who takes a thief home as a guest can only be a madman. The same conduct of the heart is judged generosity in one couplet and madness in the other.

In the fourth couplet the beloved is called "the drunken Turk". In divan poetry calling the beautiful and cruel beloved a "Turk" is a familiar usage; drunkenness points to the languor and fury of the eye. The blood dripping from his sword becomes a flood and carries the bodies away. There is a play of sound between "ḳanda" (where) in the word "ḳandayısa" (wherever he may be) and "ḳan" (blood); this is our own observation. The word "ḳan" is repeated three times in the couplet and gives the scene the picture of a flood of blood.

The pen-name couplet uses the theme of the candle. The candle of the night chamber is carried from gathering to gathering and burns everywhere; the lover too burns with longing for the beloved's beauty and carries this fire to every gathering he goes to. The candle's lighting its surroundings by burning itself is likened to the lover's warming the gatherings with his own pain; this interpretation is an inference.

Bibliography

Online sources