Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün

Her kim ki göre bu ruḫ-ı zībāyı dir ey dil
Aḥsente zihī ṣūret ü zī şekl ü şemāyil
Gözetmege ‘īd ayı gibi ḳaşı hilālin
İdindi yaşum manẓara-i çeşmümi menzil
Bir zülf-i girih-gīre göñül baġlamışam kim
Her laḥẓa anuñçün delürür biñ dil-i ‘āḳil
Şāyed k’iresin la‘l-i revān-baḫşına bir gün
İñende göñül aġlama gözüñ yaşını sil
Zencīr-i ser-i zülfüñe çün düşdi dil ey dost
Erzāndur olursa giriftār-ı selāsil
Men‘ eyleme ḫāk-i derüñe yüzini sürsün
Çün geldi gözüm yaşı ser-i kūyuña sāyil
Çeşm-i bed ıraġ olmaġ içün mihr-i ruḫuñdan
Tomār dürilmiş bu iki zülf-i ḥamāyil
Ḫāl-i siyehüñ şevḳı n’ola göñlümi yaḳsa
Dāġ ile olur ḳandayise hindū-yı muḳbil
Zülfüñden iner çāh-ı zeneḫdānuña göñlüm
Cibrīl-i emīn gibi idüp ḳaṭ‘-ı menāzil
Şol kimse ki göre yüzüñi ḳanda deñerse
Olur mı niḳāb arada bu vech ile ḥāyil
Cān almaġa meyl itse n’ola merdüm-i çeşmüñ
Elbette olur ṭıfl sehel nesneye māyil
Ṭūfān-ı yaşumdan geçemez merdüm-i dīde
Her yañada şöyle ṭurur iken iki sāḥil
Dil bu ḫaṭ-ı sebzi göreli lāle-ruḫuñda
Cismümde yanar şem‘ gibi sūz ile her ḳıl
Reng-i ruḫumı gör daḫı aḥvālümi ṣorma
Ḥācet degül ey dost bedīhīye delāyil
Cevr eyleme iñende baña yoḳsa işidür
Sulṭān-ı cihān ḥażret-i ‘Adlī şeh-i ‘ādil
Ol şeh ki vücūdıdur anuñ merkez-i ‘ālem
Her yaña olursa n’ola luṭfı daḫı şāmil
Ẕātīdür anuñ tīġine ḳaṭ‘-ı süḫan itmek
Engüşt-i ḫayālātına şān ḥall-i mesāyil
Biñ devlet ile sümm-i semendine dem-ā-dem
Ḫāk oldı yüzin sürmek içün Sencer ü Ṭuġrıl
Ḳaldıysa felek pīr oluban n’ola ‘amelden
Bir tāze cüvān eyledi ol şeh gibi ḥāsıl
Her at izi kim rezm-gehi içre görinür
Her biri olur kelle-i a‘dāsına menzil
Ey şāh-ı cihān Ka‘be-i ‘ulyā ḳapuñ içün
Sulṭān-ı felek baġladı bu vech ile maḥmil
Sen ‘ayş-ı müdām itmeñ içün devr-i zamāne
Türk-i felegi düşmenüñe ḳıldı muḳābil
Berḳından anuñ çeşm-i ‘adū görmez olupdur
Tīġuñ leme‘ātı kim olur şem‘-i meḥāfil
Ṭāvūs-ı cināndur bize a‘dāya velīken
Māh-ı ‘ālemüñ perçemi zencīr-i selāsil
Her ḫaṭṭ-ı sitem kim var idi levḥ-i felekde
Dest-i kerem-i ‘adlüñ anı eyledi zāyil
Şemşīr-i ḳader-ḳadr ü ḳażā-verzişüñ ile
Şaḫṣ-ı fiten olsa n’ola her yañada bismil
İẓhār-ı kemāl itmek içün Ṣāni‘-i bī-çün
Mecmū‘-ı kemālāt ile ḳılmış seni kāmil
Peyk-i ecel olmaġın oḫuñ ḳanda giderse
Ḳaṣdı bu k’ola mīr-i ecel ḳavlile ‘āmil
Görünse meh-i nev götürür ḥācet elin ḫalḳ
Olduġıçün ol na‘l-i semendüñe mümās̱il
Düşmen derilen saña olur ġāfil özinden
Her ḳandayise terkidedür ḫod ser-i ġāfil
Degzindügi bezmüñi senüñ kerkes-i gerdūn
Bilür ki yeter kendüye ol ḫᵛān-ı fevāżıl
Her kim ‘alem-i nīzeñi ṭosṭoġru gözetmez
Görinmez anuñ gözine illā ki meger mīl
Ḳurtarsa n’ola düşmenüñi derd-i serinden
Yetişdi başına ḳılıcuñ gibi ḥamāyil
Şehler ne ‘aceb ḫıdmetüñe gelse dem-ā-dem
Elbette olur ẕerre güneşden yaña māyil
Bī-ḫod düşer a‘dā aduñ añulduġı yirde
Ḥaḳ gelse gider bes ya ṭurur mı daḫı bāṭıl
Yā Rab ne kebūterdür oḫuñ k’ire hevādan
Mektūb-ı ecel birle olur düşmene nāzil
Bunca diş ile çarḫ-ı felek günde dürişür
Hergiz girih olmasun işüñde diyü müşkil
Düşmenlerüñe şerbet-i şemşīrüñ ucından
Tiryāk-ı ḥayāt oldı belī zehr-i helāhil
Yüz sürdügümi ḫāk-i derüñe gören eydür
Bu devlete irmezdi Münīr olmasa ḳābil
Çün yoḳdur anuñ vaṣf-ı cemīline nihāyet
Uzatma göñül sözüñi ya‘nī ki du‘ā ḳıl
Āvāze-i tekbīr ile ṭolduḳça mesācid
Yanduḳça zevāyā-yı feleklerde ḳanādil
Her gicesi ḳadr olsun anuñ her güni bayram
‘Īd ayı bir iki görinürse n’ola her yıl

In English

1. O heart, whoever sees this lovely cheek says: bravo, what a fine form, what a fine figure and nature. ("Aḥsente" is an Arabic word of praise meaning "well done, bravo"; "şemāyil" means both beauty of face and character.)

2. My tears, to watch for the crescent of your brow as one watches for the festival moon, have made the viewing window of my eye their dwelling. ("Manẓara" is, in the dictionary sense, a window or pavilion built for looking out; the image is compared to the custom of watching for the festival crescent at the end of Ramadan.)

3. I have given my heart to such knotted locks that because of them a thousand sane hearts go mad at every moment. (The locks are likened to a chain; since madmen were put in chains, the locks and madness are brought together.)

4. Perhaps one day you will reach the life-giving ruby of the lips; O heart, do not be hurt, do not weep, wipe the tears from your eyes.

5. O friend, since the heart has fallen into the chain at the tip of your locks, it deserves to be a captive in chains.

6. Do not forbid my tears to rub their face on the dust of your door, for they have come to your quarter as a beggar. (The word "sāyil" is read in two senses in the couplet: as "sā’il", beggar, and as "sāyil", flowing. The tears are like a poor man who both flows to the door and begs at it.)

7. So that the evil eye may be kept away from the sun of your face, these two amulet-like locks have been rolled up like scrolls. ("Ḥamāyil" is, in the dictionary sense, an amulet or prayer paper hung round the neck; the two curling locks are likened to amulets rolled up and worn against the evil eye.)

8. Is it any wonder if longing for your black beauty spot burns my heart? Wherever the fortunate Hindu slave may be, he bears a brand. (The black beauty spot is likened to a Hindu slave; the comparison seems to rest on the marking of slaves by branding. The burn mark in the heart is that brand.)

9. My heart, like the trusty Gabriel, crosses the stages and descends from your locks into the well of your chin dimple. (An allusion to Gabriel descending from heaven to earth; the locks are imagined as a road running downwards and the chin dimple as a well.)

10. Whoever sees your face, wherever he may come upon it, can a veil stand between him and such a face? ("Bu vech ile" means both "in this way" and "with this face".)

11. Is it any wonder if the pupil of your eye inclines to taking lives? A child naturally inclines to trifles. ("Merdüm-i çeşm" is the pupil of the eye, literally "the little man of the eye"; there is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between this and "ṭıfl" (child) in the second line. Taking a life is treated as a trifle, like a child reaching for a toy.)

12. With two such shores standing on either side, the pupil of the eye cannot cross the flood of my tears. (The eyelids are likened to two shores and the tears to a flood.)

13. Ever since the heart saw this green down on your tulip cheek, every hair on my body burns and flares like a candle.

14. Look at the colour of my face and do not ask about my state; O friend, what is self-evident needs no proof. (The second line is built like a proverb; the yellowed face already tells the lover's state.)

15. Do not treat me with hurtful cruelty, or else the sultan of the world, the just shah, His Majesty Adlî, will hear of it. ("‘Adlī" means "of justice, just" and is also the pen name Bayezid II used in his poems. The beloved is warned not to be cruel by being told that the just sultan will hear of it, and the poem passes to the praise.)

16. He is the shah whose being is the centre of the world; is it any wonder if his kindness embraces every side? (The image of a centre and a circle that encloses it is used. The Vatican copy reads "bes luṭfı" in place of "luṭfı daḫı".)

17. Cutting speech short is in the very nature of his sword; solving problems befits the finger of his thought. ("Ḳaṭ‘-ı süḫan" means to cut speech short, to end a dispute; since the sword is sharp, the phrase is used in both its literal and figurative senses. "Ḥall-i mesāyil" is solving problems as one unties a knot.)

18. Sencer and Tuğrul, with all their fortunes, became dust so as to rub their faces constantly on the hoof of his steed. (Sencer and Tuğrul are names of Seljuk rulers; the great sultans of old are described as having become dust beneath the feet of Bayezid's horse.)

19. Is it any wonder if the heavens, grown old, have retired from work? For they have raised a fresh young man like that shah. (The ageing of the heavens and their giving up work are explained by their having raised a young ruler to do their work.)

20. Every hoofprint that appears on his battlefield becomes a resting place for the heads of his enemies.

21. O shah of the world, the sultan of the heavens has thus made ready his mahmil for your gate, which is like the sublime Kaaba. (The sultan of the heavens is the sun; the sun is described as turning towards the sultan's gate like the ornamented mahmil in a pilgrim caravan.)

22. So that you may enjoy pleasure without end, the turning of time has set the Turk of the heavens against your enemy. ("Türk-i felek" is the warrior of the sky; in the dictionary sense it is used for the planet Mars.)

23. The enemy's eye has gone blind from the lightning of the gleams of your sword, which is the candle of every gathering. (The gleam of the sword is described in two ways, as a candle lighting up gatherings and as lightning that blinds the enemy.)

24. The plume of your banner, moon of the world, is to us a peacock of paradise, but to the enemies it is the chain of chains. (The edition has "‘ālem" (world); the reading "‘alem" (banner) also fits the context. The plume hanging from the moon-shaped finial of the banner looks as fair as a peacock feather to friends and like a chain to enemies.)

25. Whatever lines of cruelty there were on the tablet of the sky, the generous hand of your justice has erased them.

26. Is it any wonder if, with your sword, worthy as fate and executor of destiny, the person of sedition lies slaughtered on every side? (In "ḳader-ḳadr" there is a pun (cinas) between kader (fate) and kadr (worth). "Bismil" means slaughtered, as a sacrifice is slaughtered.)

27. The Creator, who has no like and no equal, has made you perfect with all perfections in order to show His own perfection.

28. Because your arrow is the courier of death, wherever it goes its aim is to do its work by the command of the lord of death. ("‘Āmil" is, in the dictionary sense, an official who carries out an order; the arrow is imagined as a courier bearing the command of death.)

29. When the new moon appears, the people raise their hands in prayer, because it resembles the shoe of your horse. (The crescent and the horseshoe are compared for their shape; the people's raising of their hands at the sight of the crescent is attributed to reverence for the shoe of the sultan's horse.)

30. He who is called your enemy is unaware of himself; wherever the heedless man's head may be, it is already on your saddle-bow. ("Terki" is the back of the saddle; the enemy's severed head is said to hang from the sultan's saddle.)

31. Because the vulture of the heavens circles round your feast, it knows that that table of virtues will be enough for it. ("Kerkes-i gerdūn" is, in the dictionary sense, the eagle or vulture of the sky and is used as the name of a star; the abundance of the sultan's feast feeds even the bird of the sky.)

32. To the eye of whoever does not look straight at the banner of your lance, nothing appears but the "mil". ("Mil" means both the red-hot needle drawn across the eyes to blind and an upright column or marker; whoever does not look straight at the sultan's lance is blinded.)

33. Is it any wonder if he frees your enemy from the pain in his head? Your sword has reached his head like an amulet. ("Ḥamāyil" means, in the dictionary sense, both the sword belt worn across the shoulder and an amulet hung round the neck; the writing of an amulet for a headache and the cutting off of the enemy's head meet in the same word.)

34. What wonder if shahs come constantly to your service? The mote naturally inclines towards the sun.

35. Where your name is mentioned the enemies fall senseless; when truth comes, falsehood goes, so how could it stay? (The second line alludes to the Qur'anic words "truth has come and falsehood has vanished".)

36. O Lord, what kind of dove is your arrow, that it comes down from the air and alights on the enemy with the letter of death? (The arrow is likened to a carrier pigeon bearing a letter; the letter it carries is the news of death.)

37. The wheel of the heavens toils every day with so many teeth, so that there may never be a knot, a difficulty, in your affairs. (The heavens are likened to a toothed wheel.)

38. The deadly poison given to your enemies as a sherbet from the tip of your sword has become for them the antidote of life. (The couplet can be read in two ways: either death is counted a deliverance for the enemies, or even the poison that comes from the sultan's sword tastes as sweet as sherbet to them.)

39. Whoever sees me rubbing my face on the dust of your door says: had Münîr not been worthy, he would not have reached this fortune.

40. Since there is no end to the description of his fair qualities, O heart, do not prolong your words; that is, pray.

41. As long as the mosques are filled with the sound of the tekbir, as long as lamps burn in the corners of the heavens,

42. May each of his nights be the Night of Power and each of his days a festival; what wonder if the festival moon appears once or twice a year? (The two festivals of the year, those of Ramadan and of Sacrifice, are meant; beside the wish that every day of the sultan be a festival, they are few.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a Turkish kaside (qasida) of forty-two couplets and bears the number Kaside 13 in the edition. The kaside is a long verse form made up of couplets that keep a single rhyme, written for the most part in praise of a ruler or a great man. The metre is the hazaj pattern "mef‘ûlü mefâ‘îlü mefâ‘îlü fe‘ûlün". The kaside has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is the sound "-il" (dil, şemāyil, menzil, ‘āḳil, sil, selāsil, sāyil, ḥamāyil, muḳbil, ḥāyil, māyil, sāḥil, ‘ādil, ḳanādil). In his introduction Ersoy cites this poem among the kasides whose rhyme rests on the final letter alone. The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 24b) and Vienna (VY 33a) copies. The heading in the edition, "Der-medḥ-i Sulṭānü's-selāṭīn Sulṭān Bāyezīd Ḫān", means "In praise of the sultan of sultans, Sultan Bayezid Khan"; in the Vienna copy the heading is simply "ve lehū".

The kaside is built of two main sections. The first fourteen couplets are like a ghazal spoken to the beloved: cheek, brow, locks, lips, beauty spot, chin dimple, pupil of the eye and down on the cheek are mentioned in turn. Couplet 15 passes to the praise by telling the beloved "do not be cruel to me, or the just sultan will hear"; the patron is named here not by his name but as "Hazret-i ‘Adlī". Couplets 16-38 praise the sultan's sword, arrow, lance, horse and justice. The pen name (mahlas) appears in couplet 39 as "Münīr". In couplet 40 the poet tells himself "do not prolong your words, pray"; the last two couplets are a prayer built on "as long as" clauses. For whom it was written is clear from the heading and from couplet 15; the sources give no information on when it was presented.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The transition couplet (girizgâh) is the most skilful passage of the kaside. The word "‘Adlī" means, in the dictionary sense, "of justice, just"; it is also the pen name Bayezid II used in his poems. The sources agree that the sultan's pen name was Adlî; the Adlî entry in TEİS gives it in the same way. In a single line Münîrî combines taking refuge with a just sultan from the beloved's cruelty and naming the sultan by his poetic pen name. Since the phrase "şeh-i ‘ādil" comes from the same root, the line is also an example of derivative wordplay (iştikak). Because Bayezid was himself a poet, this name is a subtle way of addressing him through poetry.

In the ghazal section Münîrî's fondness for the pun (cinas) and double entendre (tevriye) is often visible. In couplet 6 the word "sāyil" carries the sense of tears that both beg and flow, and in couplet 10 "bu vech ile" means both "in this way" and "with this face". In couplet 11 a congruence of images (tenasüp) is set up between the pupil of the eye and the child (ṭıfl), and in couplets 3 and 5 between the locks, the chain and madness. The line "what is self-evident needs no proof" in couplet 14 is spoken like a proverb; the use of proverbs and idioms is among the features Ersoy lists for Münîrî. The beloved's beauty is also described with religious images: the brow is the festival crescent (2), and the heart descends like Gabriel from the locks into the chin dimple (9).

In the praise section the sultan's weapons act like living beings. The arrow is the courier of death (28) and a dove carrying the letter of death (36); the sword is both the candle of gatherings and the lightning that blinds the enemy's eye (23); whoever does not look straight at the banner of the lance is blinded with the needle (32). In couplet 33 the word "ḥamāyil" plays on its senses of sword belt and amulet: the sword reaches the enemy's head like an amulet and frees him from the pain in his head. The ruler is also compared with the great sultans of the past; Sencer and Tuğrul have become dust beneath the feet of his horse (18). Couplet 35 alludes to the Qur'anic words "truth has come and falsehood has vanished", and in couplet 34 the mote turning towards the sun is given as an example of the shahs hastening to the sultan. The last couplet of the kaside returns to the image of the festival crescent from the first section: may every night of the sultan be the Night of Power and every day a festival; beside this, the festival moon that appears once or twice a year is little.

Historical Context

According to the heading in the edition, the kaside was written in praise of Bayezid Khan, "sultan of sultans". According to Ersoy's introduction, fourteen of the twenty-nine kasides in the divan are eulogies of Bayezid II. Bayezid was sent to Amasya as sanjak governor at the age of seven, in the time of his father Mehmed II (the Conqueror), and stayed there for about twenty-seven years; Münîrî was in his company during these years. The sources give no information on whether this kaside was written in the Amasya years or in the years of the sultanate. The title "sultan of sultans" in the heading and the address "sultan of the world" in the kaside give no date.

Bibliography

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