Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Görmeyüp zülfüñi yüzüñde didüm kim Muṣṭafā
Sāye-bān-ı ḥüsnüñi almış meger bād-ı ṣabā
Āftābuñ yüzine ebr-i siyāh olur ḥicāb
Burḳa‘ ile görmez olduḳsa yüzüñi zī-ṣafā
Cān virürse tīr-i ġamzeñ zaḫmına n’ola göñül
Bilür anı kim belādan ḳatıdur bīm-i belā
Ġayra atarken baña yetişdi tīr-i nāveki
Vay aña kim ey dil-i bī-çāre virmeye Ḫudā
N’ola bir kerre tecellī ḳılsa luṭf idüp Münīr
Pertev-i ṣun‘-ı Ḫudā nūr-ı Muḥammed Muṣṭafā

In English

1. Not seeing your tresses on your face, I said: "O chosen one (Mustafa), the morning breeze must have carried off the canopy that shades your beauty."

2. A black cloud becomes a veil over the face of the sun; O you full of delight, if we can no longer see your face behind the veil (that is the reason).

3. What wonder if the heart gives its life to the wound of your glance's arrow; it knows that the fear of affliction is harder than affliction itself.

4. As he was shooting at another, the tip of his arrow reached me; O helpless heart, pity the one to whom God does not grant it.

5. O Münîr, how fine it would be if the radiance of God's creation, the light of Muhammad Mustafa, would graciously shine forth once.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the ninth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 9). The metre is "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The ghazal has no refrain (redif); the rhyme is the sound "-ā": Muṣṭafā, ṣabā, zī-ṣafā, belā, Ḫudā, Muṣṭafā. The rhyme word of the opening couplet, "Muṣṭafā", rhymes again in the last couplet. The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 100b), Vienna (VY 81a) and Istanbul University (Ü 19a) manuscripts and in the anthologies of Pervâne Bey (PB 14b) and Nazmî of Edirne (MN 4b). According to the apparatus, PB reads "urur" instead of "olur" in the second couplet and "ḳurtarur" instead of "ḳatıdur" in the third; in the fourth couplet Ü gives "ġamzesi" instead of "nāveki", and MN "irişdi" instead of "yetişdi". To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In the first four couplets the ghazal proceeds like an ordinary love ghazal, while in the pen-name couplet it turns to the light of the Prophet Muhammad. This turn adds a new meaning to the word "Muṣṭafā" in the opening couplet. "Muṣṭafā" in its dictionary sense means "chosen", and in the opening couplet it can be read as an address to the beautiful beloved. The same word in the last couplet is clearly the name of the Prophet. In the opening couplet the tresses are thought of as a "sāye-bān" (canopy) shading the sun, which also recalls the well-known tradition that a cloud shaded the Prophet. This double reading is our own observation; the edition gives no heading or explanation for the ghazal.

The second couplet sets up the relation between sun and cloud the other way round. In the opening couplet the tresses did not shade the face; here a veil covers it, and a black cloud is likened to the curtain of the sun. In the third couplet there is a pun (cinas) between "bīm-i belā" (fear of affliction) and "belā", and the line ends with a general judgement that fear is heavier than affliction itself; in this respect the couplet carries a proverb (irsal-i mesel). The PB reading "ḳurtarur" changes the meaning: according to it, what saves one from the fear of affliction is affliction itself.

In the fourth couplet the arrow shot at another and reaching the lover is counted as good fortune for him. "Nāvek" in its dictionary sense is a kind of short arrow. The lover pities those who have no share of this arrow; thus being wounded becomes a favour.

In the pen-name couplet the words "pertev" (radiance), "nūr" (light) and "tecellī" (manifestation) form a congruence of images (tenasüp). The pen name "Münīr" also means, in its dictionary sense, light-giving, and it takes its place among these words of light. The phrase "pertev-i ṣun‘-ı Ḫudā nūr-ı Muḥammed" rests on the idea that the light of Muhammad is counted as the first light of creation; this link is our own inference.

Bibliography

Online sources