Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ol kemān-ebrū-yı meh-rū kim cihānuñ ḫānıdur
‘Īd-i ekberdür cemāli cān anuñ ḳurbānıdur
Taḫt-gāh-ı sīnemi k’itdi ḫayāli şeh-nişīn
Çeşm-i gevher-bār anuñ bes ḥavż u şādurvānıdur
Ġamzeñüñ fikrinden ey Türk-i kemān-ebrū bugün
Ṣanki sīnem bir bölük peykān-gerüñ dükkānıdur
Mācerā-yı ‘ışḳuñı yazmaḳ mı diler dīde kim
Levḥ-i zer üzre inen kirpüklerüm efşānıdur
Çeşm-i mestüñ ḳılmaġ içün baġrumı her dem kebāb
Ḫāne-i dil bezm-gāh u sīnem āteş-dānıdur
Nār-ı ḫaddüñ birle yansun ḳo ḳara zülfüñi kim
Hindū-yı āteş-pereste bu ‘aẕāb erzāndur
Ḫaddüñ üzre böyle yüz bulduġı bu ḫāl-i siyeh
Maġribī veffāk u yā cādū-yı Hindustāndur
Şāh-bāz-ı sidreye dām-ı belālar gösteren
Perçem-i ṭāvūs-ı müşkīn-bālüñüñ cevlānıdur
Dil varup zülf-i siyāhuñdan yitişdi aġzuña
Ḥāṣılı bu ẓulmetüñ bes çeşme-i ḥayvānıdur
Nergis-i mestüñ ki nūş ider müdām ey ġonca-leb
Bāde-i gül-reng ṣanma anı baġrum ḳanıdur
‘Işḳ-bāzī ḳıldı beñzer zülf-i müşkīnüñle kim
Her nefes dil gibi bād-ı ṣubḥ ser-gerdānıdur
Zaḫm-ı peykānı cigerde ġamze-i dil-dūzuñuñ
Gūyiyā cān gül-şeninüñ ġonca-i ḫandānıdur
Ḫūn-ı ‘uşşāḳa berāt olduġını gördi meger
Boynın egmişdür benefşe ḫaddüñüñ ḥayrānıdur
Gül-şen-i vaṣla liyāḳat bulmadı dil bülbüli
Gerçi bāġ-ı ḥüsnüñüñ murġ-ı hezār-elḥānıdur
Dāġ-ı ḥasret birle bir ḫūnīn-ciger göñlüm gibi
Şimdi ṣaḥn-ı būstānda lāle-i nu‘māndur
Sāḳīyā gül devridür ṣun gel mey-i gül-gūnı kim
Bir yüzi gül zülfi sünbül ġonca-leb devrānıdur
Her ne deñlü pādşāh-ı ḥüsn iseñ bu vech ile
Sen daḫı çākersin aña kim cihānuñ ḫānıdur
Pādşāh-ı heft kişver ḥaẓret-i şeh Bāyezīd
İki ‘ālem mülkinüñ her bāb ile sulṭānıdur
Bir güneş ṭal‘atdur ol mihr-i ḳamer-ruḫsār kim
Şeş cihetden yidi iḳlīmüñ çehār erkānıdur
Bir ẕekā-dildür ki rāy-ı pertevinüñ ẕerre-vār
Şeh-süvār-ı nuḳre-ḫınk-ı çarḫ ser-gerdānıdur
Dil nice idrāk ide künh-i kemālātını kim
Ẕū-fünūn-ı ‘ālem iken ‘aḳl-ı kül ḥayrānıdur
Her kemīne bendesi devr-i zamānuñ gūyiyā
Rüstem ü Faġfūr u Zāl ü Ḳayṣer ü Ḫāḳānıdur
Ḥāṣılı ẕāt-ı şerīfüñ ey şeh-i dünyā vü dīn
Sāye-i Perverdigār u baḫşiş-i Yezdāndur
‘Ālem-i bālā kim oldur ‘ālem-i lāhūt anuñ
Cevher-i gerd-i rehüñ tāc-ı ser-i a‘yānıdur
Ka‘be-i ‘ulyā ḳapuñ dārü’s-selām olduġıçün
Her gice ṭāvūs-ı ḳudsīler anuñ mihmānıdur
Sübḥa-gerdān-ı felek vird idinürse ṭañ mı kim
Defter-i levḥüñ şerīf aduñ ser-i ‘unvānıdur
Pāsbān-ı ḳulle-i ḳadr-i refī‘uñ her gice
Bu ḥiṣār-ı nīl-gūn-ı pür-żiyā Keyvānıdur
Āstānuñdan ḳılupdur devlet ü cāh iḳtibās
Cāy-ı Bircīs anuñçün ṭāḳ-ı çarḫ eyvānıdur
Gösteren burc-ı şafaḳda ‘aḳsini her ṣubḥ-dem
Ḫancer-i Mirrīḫ dökdügi ‘adūnuñ ḳanıdur
İşigüñe yüz sürer günde güneş bes bildigüm
Bu ḳanādīl-i zevāyā ruḫlaruñ tābānıdur
Ṣubḥ-ı ṣādıḳ germ olup çāk-i girībān itdügi
Zühre her şeb bezmüñüñ raḳḳāṣ-ı dest-efşānıdur
Defterine derc ider her dem ‘Uṭārid medḥüñi
Ḳandayise midḥatüñüñ gerçi ezber-ḫᵛānıdur
Ṭās-bāz olsa ‘aceb mi çarḫ bezmüñ içre kim
Şāh-ı encüm ḥaşmet ile micmere-gerdānıdur
Himmetüñ çābük-süvārı kim dem-i cevlānınuñ
Füsḥat-i gird-i cihān ġāyetde ṭar meydānıdur
Oldı tīġ-i āb-dāruñ şānına menzil senüñ
Āyet-i naṣrun minallāh k’āyet-i Raḥmāndur
Nīze-i Cibrīli gören bu yed-i beyżāda dir
Ṣanki Mūsā-yı kelīmüñ ejder ü s̱u‘bānıdur
Berḳ-ı tīġ-i āb-dāruñ düşmenüñüñ ḳanına
Naṣṣ-ı ḳāṭı‘ olduġınuñ ḥüccet ü bürhānıdur
Himmetüñ bir baḥr-i Aḥḍardur cihān mülkinde kim
Ebr-i nīsānı anuñ luṭf u kerem bārānıdur
Sofra-i ḫalḳ-ı cihān mihmānınuñ her vech ile
Kāse-i ḥırsı pür iden ni‘met-i elvānıdur
Dil ki tīġ-i āb-dāruñ cevherin görüp didi
Ṣanki murġ-ı baḥrdur ṭu‘me ‘adūñuñ ḳanıdur
Cāme-i ḳadrüñde gök bir dügmedür ṭoḳuz kenār
Yā ḫo ḳadr-i rif‘atüñüñ cübbesi dāmānıdur
Luṭf-ı güftāruñ k’ider dībāce-i fażl u kemāl
Söz bu kim ḥāṣıyyet-i ‘Īsī’b-nü Meryem şānıdur
Çün ki medḥüñde maḳām-ı ‘aczdür cāy-ı Münīr
Sözi uzatmak ne ḥācet bes du‘ā āvānıdur
Tā kim ola reh-revān-ı Ka‘be-i ‘ulyā müdām
Tā ki bunca ḥācīlar her yıl anuñ mihmānıdur
Her günüñ nev-rūz u ‘īd olsun cihān mülkinde kim
Ṭal‘atuñ mihr-i cihānuñ ḥāṣıl-ı devrānıdur

In English

1. The face of that bow-browed, moon-faced beauty, who is the khan of the world, is the greatest festival; and the soul is its sacrifice. ("‘Īd-i ekber" means "the greatest festival" in the dictionary sense; beside the word festival, "kurban" (sacrifice) also calls to mind the Festival of Sacrifice. In the Vienna manuscript the refrain reads "cānıdur" (is its soul) instead of "ḫānıdur" (is its khan).)

2. Since the image of the beloved has taken the throne-place of my breast for its pavilion, my pearl-scattering eye is enough to be the pool and fountain of that pavilion. ("Şeh-nişīn" in the dictionary sense is the seat where a ruler sits, a projecting bay of a pavilion; the pearl-scattering eye is the weeping eye.)

3. O bow-browed Turkish beauty, today, from the thought of your glance, my breast is like a stall in an arrowsmith's shop. ("Peykān-ger" in the dictionary sense is the craftsman who makes arrowheads; the breast is likened to a shop full of the heads of the arrows of the beloved's glance lodged in it.)

4. Does my eye wish to write the story of your love, that my lashes falling upon the golden tablet have become the gold dust sprinkled over that writing? ("Efşān" in the dictionary sense is the gold or silver dust sprinkled over calligraphy or illumination. That the golden tablet is the face grown pale with love is one reading; the line does not say so outright.)

5. So that your drunken eye may roast my heart at every moment, the house of my heart has become its banqueting hall and my breast its brazier.

6. Let your black locks burn in the fire of your cheek; this torment is what the fire-worshipping Hindu deserves. (The black locks are likened to a Hindu for their colour and the cheek to fire; the locks lying beside the fire are thought of as a fire-worshipper. "Erzān" means "cheap, deserved" in the dictionary sense.)

7. This black mole that has found such favour upon your cheek is either a Maghrebi maker of talismanic squares or a sorcerer of Hindustan. ("Yüz bulmak" means both to find a place on the face and to find favour and grow spoiled. "Veffāḳ" in the dictionary sense is one who draws up vefk, tables of letters and numbers used as talismans; the Maghreb and India were both famed for sorcery.)

8. What shows snares of affliction even to the falcon of the Sidra tree is the swaying of the forelock of your musk-winged peacock, that is, of you. (The Sidra is the tree at the highest point of the heavens; the falcon perched there stands for the loftiest souls. "Perçem" here is both the lock falling on the beloved's brow and the crest of the peacock.)

9. The heart went on through your black locks and reached your mouth; in short, the end of this darkness is a fountain of the water of life. (There is an allusion to the belief that the water of life lies in the Land of Darkness; the black locks are the darkness and the mouth is the water of life.)

10. O rosebud-lipped one, do not think that what your drunken narcissus, that is, your eye, drinks without pause is rose-coloured wine; it is the blood of my heart.

11. The dawn breeze must have played at love with your musk-scented locks, for at every breath it is giddy and distracted like the heart. ("Ser-gerdān" in the dictionary sense means both dizzy, bewildered and wandering aimlessly; the drifting of the wind is joined to both senses.)

12. The arrowhead wound that your heart-piercing glance has opened in my liver is like the laughing rosebud of the rose garden of the soul. (The open, bleeding wound is likened to an opened bud.)

13. The violet must have seen that your cheek is a warrant for shedding the blood of lovers, for it has bowed its neck; it is the admirer of your cheek. ("Berat" in the dictionary sense is a warrant of permission and authority issued by the sovereign. The bent posture of the violet is explained as admiration and submission.)

14. Although the nightingale of the heart is the bird of a thousand melodies in the garden of your beauty, it was not found worthy of the rose garden of union. ("Hezār" in the dictionary sense means both "a thousand" and "nightingale"; in the phrase "murġ-ı hezār-elḥān" both senses are heard together.)

15. The anemone in the middle of the garden is now like my heart, its liver bloodied with the scar of longing. ("Lāle-i nu‘mān" in the dictionary sense is the anemone or poppy; the black spot at the centre of the flower is likened to the "dāġ", the brand or scar of love.)

16. O cupbearer, it is the season of the rose; come, pour the rose-coloured wine, for this is the age of a beauty whose face is a rose, whose locks are hyacinth and whose lips are a rosebud. ("Devr" means both season, time and the circling of the cup at a gathering; "devr" and "devrān" are set side by side.)

17. However much you may be the sovereign of beauty in this way, you too are the servant of him who is the khan of the world.

18. He is the sovereign of the seven climes, his majesty the shah Bayezid; he is in every respect the sultan of the realm of both worlds.

19. That moon-cheeked sun is a ruler with a face like the sun; from the six directions he is the four pillars of the seven climes. (The numbers of the six directions, the seven climes and the four pillars are used together; "çehār erkān" in the dictionary sense means the four foundations, four pillars or four elements.)

20. He is a ruler of such keen mind that in the light of his judgement the royal rider of the heavens on his silver-white horse spins about like a mote. ("Nuḳre-ḫınk" in the dictionary sense is a silver-coloured, white horse; this rider of the heavens can be understood as the sun. The image is that of a mote of dust turning in a sunbeam.)

21. How could the heart grasp the essence of his perfections, when even the Universal Intellect, master of all the sciences of the world, stands in wonder before him? (The Universal Intellect, in Islamic thought, is the first created intellect that encompasses all being.)

22. In the course of time even the humblest of his servants is, as it were, the Rüstem, the Faghfur, the Zal, the Caesar and the Khakan of the age. (Rüstem and Zal are heroes of the Persian epic; Faghfur is the title of the emperors of China, Kayser (Caesar) that of the rulers of Rum, and Hakan (Khakan) that of the Turkic rulers.)

23. In short, O shah of the world and of the faith, your noble person is the shadow of the Creator and the gift of God.

24. The upper world, which is the world of lāhūt: the essence of the dust of your path is the crown on the heads of its notables. (The world of lāhūt, in Sufism, is the realm of the divine being.)

25. Since your gate is the exalted Kaaba and the abode of peace, the peacocks of the holy realm, that is, the angels, are its guests every night. ("Dārü's-selām" in the dictionary sense is the abode of peace, paradise.)

26. Is it any wonder if the rosary-telling sphere makes your name its litany, when your noble name is the heading of the register of your tablet? (The possessive suffix in the line ties the tablet to the sultan; the word "levh" (tablet) also calls to mind the Preserved Tablet on which destiny is written. The turning sky is likened to a devotee telling his beads.)

27. The watchman who guards the tower of the citadel of your lofty rank every night is the Keyvan of this light-filled azure fortress. (Keyvan, that is Saturn, was in the old picture of the heavens the planet of the seventh and highest sphere, and so was thought of as the sentinel of the sky.)

28. Fortune and dignity have borrowed their light from your threshold; that is why the place of Bircis is the vaulted hall of the heavens. (Bircis is the planet Müşteri, that is Jupiter.)

29. The redness that shows its reflection in the tower of dawn each morning is the blood of the enemy shed by the dagger of Mirrikh. (Mirrikh, that is Mars, was in old belief the star of war and bloodshed.)

30. The sun rubs its face on your threshold every day; what I know is that these lamps in the corners are the radiance of your cheeks. (The link between the second line and the first is not entirely clear; the lamps can be understood as the lights of the sky.)

31. That the true dawn grows warm and tears open its collar, that is, that day breaks, is because Zühre is every night the hand-waving dancer of your feast. (Zühre, Venus, was in the old picture of the heavens the musician and singer of the sky. A graceful cause is found for the breaking of the dawn.)

32. Utarid enters your praise in his register at every moment, although, wherever he may be, he already recites your eulogy by heart. (Utarid, Mercury, was held to be the scribe of the heavens. The word "ḳandayise" seems to mean "wherever it be"; this reading is not certain.)

33. Is it any wonder if the sphere becomes a juggler playing with bowls at your feast, when the king of the stars carries your censer about in majesty? ("Ṭās-bāz" in the dictionary sense is a juggler who performs tricks with bowls; the vault of the sky is likened to an upturned bowl. The king of the stars is the sun.)

34. Your resolve is so nimble a horseman that, in the moment he spurs his horse, the whole breadth of the circuit of the world becomes a very narrow field.

35. The verse "Naṣrun minallāh" (help from God) has been sent down in honour of your gleaming sword, for it is a verse of the All-Merciful. (The words open the phrase "help from God and a near victory" in verse 13 of the sura al-Saff.)

36. Whoever sees the spear of Gabriel in this white hand says, "It is as if it were the dragon and serpent of Moses who spoke with God." (There is an allusion to the miracles of Moses, his shining white hand, the yed-i beyzâ, and his staff that turned into a serpent; the sultan's hand and spear are likened to them.)

37. The lightning of your gleaming sword is the proof and evidence that there is a decisive ruling for shedding the enemy's blood. ("Naṣṣ-ı ḳāṭı‘" in the dictionary sense is a verse or hadith that states a decisive ruling; because "ḳāṭı‘" means both "decisive" and "cutting", it is tied to the sword.)

38. Your resolve is a Green Sea in the realm of the world, and its April cloud is the rain of grace and generosity. ("Baḥr-i Aḫḍar" in the dictionary sense is the Green Sea, the great ocean. It was believed that April rain falling into the sea turned into pearls.)

39. The people of the world are the guests of your table, and what fills the bowl of their greed in every respect is your many-coloured bounty.

40. When the heart saw the watering of your gleaming sword it said: it is as if it were a seabird, and its food is your enemy's blood. (The "cevher" of a sword is the wavy watered pattern on the face of the steel; these marks are associated with water, and the sword with a bird that lives on the water.)

41. On the garment of your rank the sky is a nine-edged button; or else the sky is the hem of the robe of your eminence. (The nine edges recall the nine spheres of the old picture of the heavens.)

42. The grace of your speech makes the ornamented opening of the book of virtue and perfection; truly, this is a glory befitting the gift of Jesus son of Mary. ("Dībāce" in the dictionary sense means both silk brocade and the decorated opening page of a book. There is an allusion to the belief that Jesus raised the dead with his breath.)

43. Since in your praise the place of Münîr is the station of helplessness, what need is there to lengthen the speech; now it is the time for prayer.

44. So long as there are always travellers on the road to the exalted Kaaba, so long as so many pilgrims are its guests each year,

45. may every day of yours be Nevruz and festival in the realm of the world; for your face, the sun of the world, is the fruit of the turning of time. (The Vienna manuscript reads "nev-rūz-ı ‘īd", "the Nevruz of the festival", instead of "nev-rūz u ‘īd".)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a Turkish kaside (qasida) of forty-five couplets and is numbered Kaside 14 in the edition. The kaside is a long verse form in which every couplet keeps the same rhyme, usually written to praise a ruler or a great man. The metre is "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The rhyme rests on the sound "-ān" and the redif (refrain word) on the suffix "-ıdur": ḫānıdur, şādurvānıdur, dükkānıdur, efşānıdur, cevlānıdur. In a few couplets the refrain comes only as "-dur" (erzāndur, Hindustāndur, nu‘māndur, Yezdāndur, Raḥmāndur). In his list of refrains Ersoy places the kaside among those with the refrain "-dur", and in his discussion of rhyme he gives it as an example of kafiye-i müreddefe, rhyme in which a long vowel stands before the final rhyming letter. The kaside is found in the Vatican (VT 26a) and Vienna (VY 37b) manuscripts. The heading in the edition, "Der-medḥ-i Sulṭānü'l-ġuzāt Sulṭān Bāyezīd", means "In praise of the sultan of the warriors for the faith, Sultan Bayezid"; the heading in the Vienna manuscript is printed in the edition with missing letters and can be read as "Sulṭān Bāyezīd ‘azze naṣruh".

The sections of the kaside can be clearly distinguished in the text. The first sixteen couplets form the teşbib, the opening section that describes the beloved as a ghazal (gazel) would: brow, eye, glance, locks, mole, lips and a spring gathering in which the cupbearer is addressed. Couplet 17 is the girizgâh, the transition; the poet passes to praise by saying that even the beloved, sovereign of beauty, is the servant of the "khan of the world". This couplet repeats verbatim the words "cihānuñ ḫānıdur" from the opening couplet, so that the epithet given to the beloved in the first couplet is handed over in the transition to its true owner, the sultan. Couplets 18-42 are the medhiye, the praise proper; the patron's name appears in couplet 18 as "ḥażret-i şeh Bāyezīd". Couplet 43 carries the pen name (mahlas); with the pen name "Münīr" the poet says he falls short in praise, and the last two couplets are a prayer built on the pattern "tā … tā …" (so long as … so long as …). The sources give no information on when the kaside was presented.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The teşbib sets the established images of beauty in divan poetry one after another, but each couplet finds a concrete frame for them. The heart is the pavilion where the image of the beloved sits and the tears are its fountain (2); the wounded breast is an arrowsmith's shop (3); the heart is a banqueting hall and the breast a brazier (5). The black locks lying beside the fiery cheek are explained through the images of the Hindu and the fire-worshipper (6), and the black mole is likened to a Maghrebi maker of talismans or an Indian sorcerer (7). In couplet 9 the heart that passes through the darkness of the locks to reach the mouth recalls the traveller who seeks the water of life in the Land of Darkness. The word "hezār" in couplet 14 creates a pun (cinas) that can be read as both "a thousand" and "nightingale"; the idiom "yüz bulmak" in couplet 7 likewise has two senses, finding a place on the face and finding favour and growing spoiled.

In the medhiye the praise rests on the picture of the heavens. In couplets 27-32 the planets of the old astronomy are shown one by one in the sultan's service: Keyvan (Saturn) is the watchman of his citadel, Bircis (Jupiter) dwells in his hall, Mirrikh (Mars) is the executioner who sheds enemy blood with his dagger, the sun is a servant who rubs its face on his threshold, Zühre (Venus) is the dancer of his feast, and Utarid (Mercury) is the scribe who enters the praises in the register. This order follows the arrangement of the spheres from top to bottom, from Saturn down to Mercury; the moon is not named in this sequence. The tasks assigned to the planets, Saturn the watchman, Mars the warrior, Venus the musician and Mercury the scribe, are their traditional attributes in old star lore. In couplet 33 the vault of the sky is likened to a juggler playing with bowls, and in couplet 41 to a nine-edged button on the sultan's garment.

The praise of the sword runs over several couplets and is supported by religious allusions. Couplet 35 quotes the phrase "Naṣrun minallāh" from the sura al-Saff; in couplet 36 the sultan's hand and spear are compared with the white hand of Moses and his staff that became a serpent; in couplet 37 the word "ḳāṭı‘" in the phrase "naṣṣ-ı ḳāṭı‘" is tied to the sword through its two senses, "decisive" and "cutting". In couplet 22, where even the humblest servant is counted a Rüstem, Zal, Faghfur, Caesar and Khakan, we have a typical example of hyperbole, the basic figure of the kaside; in couplet 19 the joint use of the numbers of the six directions, the seven climes and the four pillars forms a congruence of numbers (tenasüp). The image of the April cloud and the rain of generosity in couplet 38 rests on the belief that April rain turns into pearls in the sea.

According to Ersoy, the influence of Ahmed Paşa and Atâyî stands out in Münîrî's Turkish kasides. This kaside, in the metre "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün" with the rhyme and refrain "-ānıdur", is among the poems Ersoy counts as nazire (response poems) to Ahmed Paşa. Ersoy bases the comparison on the Divan of Ahmed Paşa edited by Ali Nihat Tarlan, but since his footnote gives several page numbers together, it does not say which kaside served as the model for each poem; this has not been examined separately here.

Bibliography

Online sources