Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ser-geşte olduġuñ senüñ ey çarḫ-ı bī-vefā
Ṭutdı meger ki ḫūn-ı şehīdān-ı Kerbelā
Bir şāh-bāz-ı sidre-nişīne kelāġ-ı şūm
Kim gördi pence urduġun ey çarḫ-ı bī-vefā
Rūbehlik ile avlayuban şīr-zādeyi
Virdün cehennem iti eline zihī ḫaṭā
Ḳanlu yaşuñı seyl-i revān itgil ey gözüm
Yıḫdı nihāl-i servi çün ol ṣarṣar-ı fenā
Deryā-yı eşke fülk-i ten oldısa ṭañ mı ġarḳ
Ḫāk içre ġarḳ-ı ḫūn yatıcaḳ nesl-i Muṣṭafā
Ḫūn itdi yüregümüzi çün mātem-i Ḥüseyn
Ḳan aġladursa bize ‘aceb mi bu mācerā
Bandurdı cübbesini göge çarḫ-ı nīl-reng
Mātem-zede ḳılalı cihān ḫalḳın ol ‘azā
Her dem senüñçün ey gül-i sīr-āb-ı teşne-leb
Her bir müjemden aḫar ise seyl-i ḫūn revā
Mülk-i cihāna kāşki biz gelmeyeyidük
İşitmeyeyidük bu iş olduġını saña
Yunmaġa eşk-i ḥasret ile ḳanlu göñlegüñ
Seyl oldı gözlerüm yaşı ey ḳuṭb-ı evliyā
Od düşdi ṣubḥ-gāhuñ içine ki her seḥer
Yire urur külāhını çāk eyleyüp yaḳa
Bu vech ile şafaḳ-geh olur sürḫ-rū meger
Yetişdi ol zamāndan aña vaṣla-i ‘abā
Sen şāh-ı şāh-zādeye bir şūm-ı bed-nijād
Ḳaṣd idüp itdi ‘ālemi biñ derde mübtelā
Eflāk-i heft-ṣavma‘a bu vāḳı‘a içün
Ṭolsa ‘aceb mi nāle-i derdā vü ḥasretā
Ehl-i zemīne böyle muṣībet yetişmegin
Bir laḥza lerzeden geçemez ḫüsrev-i semā
Feryād-res yetişmedügi cürmine Furāt
Ṭaşlar ile dögünüp ider dün ü gün bükā
Derk-i cehennem içre özin ḳıldı teşne-leb
Ṣu virmediyse saña ger ol düşmen-i Ḫudā
Sen şem‘-i cāna tīġ ile ḳaṣd-ı ser itdise
La‘net oḫına oldı siper ḥaşr olınca tā
Sāḳī-i kevs̱erüñ gözi nūrın bu vech ile
Ḫāk itmek isteyen kişiye çoḳ mı ol cezā
La‘net Yezīde dimeñ ölicek dinildise
Ölürsevüz de dirüz aña la‘net-i Ḫudā
Zūr ile şāḫ-ı ḫuşka eger degdiyise gül
Āḫirde ejder olısar anuñçün ol ‘aṣā
Düşmen idinüp ol nider idi resūli de
Yiterdi ḫod hezārına maḫṣūṣ-ı hel etā
Vāy ol kişiye kim yüzüñ andan çeviresin
Devletlü ol ki sen olasın aña ilticā
Āl-i resūle ol ki ḳılıç çekdi ‘āḳ olup
Añulduġınca direm aña la‘net-i Ḫudā
Sen murġ-ı lā-mekān idüñ uçduñ maḳāmuña
Her laḥẓa öldürür bizi uş miḥnet ü belā
Bir kez ziyāret itmesin ol pāk-ravżanuñ
Yā Rab müyesser eyle k’ire cānuma şifā
Ḫāk-i mezāruña yetişüp sürmege yüzin
Bī-çāre göñlüm oldı revān hem-dem-i ṣabā
Cārūb iderse sünbül-i züfin ‘aceb midür
Ḥūrā ḥarīm-i ḳubbe-i ‘ulyāña Ḫüsrevā
Ḳandīl-i merḳadüñden eger yaḫmasa çerāġ
Virmezdi ‘āleme giceler cirm-i meh żiyā
Ḫāk-i mezāruñ oldı ziyāret-geh-i melek
Çeşm-i cihāna olsa n’ola ‘ayn-ı tūtyā
Günde gelür yüzini urup ḫāk-i ẕillete
Ṭavf-ı mezāruña sürinü Ḫüsrev-i semā
Tesbīḥ-i ḫāk-i meşhedüñi ẕākirān-ı çarḫ
Her dem sürüp yüzine gözine ider s̱enā
Ben ḥażret-i Ḥüseyne mi aġlayayum ya ḫod
Zehr-i helāhil içen içün mi idem bükā
Cān ḫandeyile virdi yine āḫir ey göñül
Ol ḫulḳ-ı ḥüsn gibi Ḥasan maẓhar-ı Hüdā
‘Ālī ḳapusı ehl-i dilüñ ḳıble-gāhıdur
‘Uşşāḳa ḫāk-i dergehidür külbe-i ṣafā
Envār-ı Ẕü’l-celāl ile ma‘mūr ẓāhiri
Şevḳ ile bāṭını ṭolu esrār-ı kibriyā
Ol iki sīn ü nūnadur ey dil işāreti
Yā-sīn sīniyile olan nūn-ı inne-mā
Ḥüzn ü firāḳ ile n’ola geçdiyse ‘ömrümüz
Ol iki gevherüñ yolına cān u dil fedā
Devr-i zamāne iki gözi nūrına Münīr
Āḫirde n’eyledi ki n’ide saña vü baña
Yā Rab müyesser eyle k’ölince dilümd’ola
Tevḥīd ü na‘t u midḥat-i evlād-ı Muṣṭafā

In English

1. O faithless wheel of heaven, your ceaseless turning, as if your head were spinning, is surely because the blood of the martyrs of Karbala has "seized" you. ("Kan tutmak", "blood seizing", in its dictionary sense is the spilt blood turning back on the one who shed it as ill fortune and punishment.)

2. O faithless wheel of heaven, who has ever seen an ill-omened crow strike its claws into a royal falcon perched on the Sidra tree? (The Sidra, in its dictionary sense, is the Lote Tree of the Farthest Boundary in the seventh heaven; Hüseyin (Husayn) is likened to the falcon, his killers to the crow.)

3. You hunted the lion's cub with a fox's cunning and handed him over to the dog of hell; what a grievous wrong.

4. O my eye, make your bloody tears a rushing flood; for that whirlwind of annihilation has felled the cypress sapling. (The Ü manuscript reads "eyle" instead of "itgil", both meaning "make".)

5. While the line of Mustafa lies drowned in blood in the dust, is it any wonder if the ship of the body has sunk in the sea of tears?

6. The mourning for Hüseyin has turned our hearts to blood; is it any wonder if this event makes us weep blood?

7. Ever since that mourning plunged the people of the world into grief, the indigo-coloured heaven has dipped its robe in sky-blue (the blue of mourning). ("Nīl-reng", in its dictionary sense, means indigo, dark blue; "gök" means both the sky and the colour blue.)

8. O fresh rose sated with water, O you of thirsting lips; it is only fitting if for you a flood of blood flows every moment from each of my eyelashes.

9. Would that we had never come into the realm of this world, and never heard that this was done to you.

10. O pole of the saints, to wash your bloodstained shirt with the tears of longing, the tears of my eyes have become a flood.

11. Fire has fallen into the heart of the dawn, so that every daybreak it tears open its collar and dashes its cap to the ground. (The whitening of dawn is likened to tearing a collar, the redness of daybreak to fire. The VT manuscript reads "ḳabā" (robe) instead of "yaḳa" (collar).)

12. The hour of twilight must be red-faced for this reason: since that time the patch of the cloak has reached it. (The couplet can be read in two ways: "vaṣla-i ‘abā" in its plain sense is a patch sewn onto a cloak, and the redness of the twilight is likened to a bloody patch; the word "‘abā" also recalls "Âl-i abâ", which in its dictionary sense means the Prophet's family whom he gathered under his cloak.)

13. An ill-omened wretch of base birth, aiming at a royal prince like you, cast the world into a thousand sorrows.

14. If the heavens with their seven cloisters, that is, the seven skies, are filled with the lament "alas the pain, alas the longing" over this event, is that any wonder?

15. Because such a calamity befell the people of the earth, the king of the sky (the sun) cannot for a moment cease trembling. (The shimmering of the sun's light is read as its trembling at this calamity.)

16. The Euphrates, guilty of not having come to the rescue (that day), weeps night and day, beating itself against the stones.

17. If that enemy of God gave you no water, he made himself thirsty-lipped in the depths of hell.

18. If he set out with the sword to cut off the head of you, the candle of the soul, he became a shield for the arrow of curses until the Day of Judgement. (A link is drawn between cutting the wick, the "head", of a candle and the beheading of Hüseyin.)

19. For the one who sought in this way to turn to dust the light of the eye of the cupbearer of Kevser, is that punishment too much? ("Sāḳī-i kevs̱er", the cupbearer of the heavenly pool of Kevser, is the epithet traditionally given to Ali; the light of his eye is his son Hüseyin.)

20. Even if it has been said, "Do not curse Yezid after his death", we will say "God's curse upon him" even though we die.

21. If the rose was forcibly touched by a dry branch, in the end that staff will become a dragon for it. (The dry branch is tied to the staff of Moses that turned into a dragon: the stick that forcibly touched the rose-like innocent will in the end become a dragon that swallows its owner. In the Karbala narratives there is a well-known report that Yezid touched Hüseyin's severed head with a stick; the couplet may be alluding to it.)

22. What would he gain by making an enemy of the Prophet as well; the one (the family) specially addressed in "Hel etâ" would have been enough for a thousand like him. (The couplet is obscure. "Hel etâ" are the opening words of the Sura of Man (al-Insan) in the Qur'an; in the exegetical tradition a part of this sura is reported to have been revealed concerning Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Hüseyin. The rendering here is a reading that rests on this link.)

23. Woe to the one from whom you turn your face; fortunate is the one to whom you become a refuge.

24. Upon the one who rebelled and drew the sword against the Prophet's family, I say "God's curse" whenever he is mentioned. (The VY manuscript reads "şol" instead of "ol".)

25. You were the bird of the placeless realm and flew to your station; but here, at every moment, hardship and affliction are killing us.

26. O Lord, grant that I may visit that pure tomb-garden once, so that healing may enter my soul. (The VY manuscript reads "ḫaste cāna", "the sick soul", instead of "cānuma".)

27. To reach the earth of your grave and rub its face against it, my helpless heart has set out as companion to the morning breeze.

28. O Khosrow, is it any wonder if the houris sweep the sanctuary of your lofty dome with their hyacinth-like locks? (Khosrow, in its dictionary sense, means king; here it addresses the martyr. The text prints "züfin"; the sense requires the reading "zülfin", "their locks".)

29. Had it not lit its light from the lamp of your grave, the body of the moon would not give light to the world at night.

30. The earth of your grave has become a place of pilgrimage for the angels; if it were the very collyrium for the eye of the world, would that be any wonder? ("‘Ayn", in its dictionary sense, means both "eye" and "the thing itself"; it echoes "çeşm", "eye", in the first line.)

31. Every day the king of the sky, the sun, comes crawling to circle your grave, rubbing its face in the dust of humility.

32. The heaven's company of remembrance, at every moment, rub against their faces and eyes the prayer beads made from the earth of the place of your martyrdom, and offer praise. (This may allude to the custom of making prayer beads from the soil of Karbala.)

33. Shall I weep for his excellency Hüseyin, or shall I lament for the one who drank the deadly poison?

34. O heart, Hasan, the place of God's manifestation like that beautiful nature, in the end also gave up his soul smiling. (There is a cinas between "ḫulḳ-ı ḥüsn", beautiful nature, and the name "Ḥasan".)

35. His lofty door is the qibla of the people of the heart; the earth of his threshold is a hut of delight for lovers. (The VT manuscript reads "ka‘be-i" instead of "külbe-i": "the Kaaba of delight".)

36. His outward being flourishes with the lights of God, Lord of Majesty; his inward being is full of longing and of the secrets of God's grandeur.

37. O heart, those two are a sign of a "sîn" and a "nûn": the sîn of Yâsîn and the nûn of "innemâ". (This points to the letters s and n shared by the names Hasan and Hüseyin. The verse beginning with "innemâ" that mentions the Prophet's household comes to mind; this is a reading, as the couplet does not name the verse.)

38. What matter if our life has passed in grief and separation; may soul and heart be sacrificed on the path of those two pearls.

39. Münîr, what did the turning of the age do in the end to those two lights of the eye, that it should do anything to you and me? (That is, beside what it did to them, what it may do to us is not worth mentioning. The couplet can also be understood as "what will the age that did this to them not do to you and me".)

40. O Lord, grant that when I die there may be on my tongue the affirmation of God's unity, praise of the Prophet and praise of the children of Mustafa.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is an elegy (mersiye) of forty couplets written in kaside (qasida) form and bears the number Kaside 4 in the edition. The mersiye is a poem that expresses grief after someone's death and recounts their virtues; in divan literature those written for the martyrs of Karbala form a tradition of their own. The metre is the "mef‘ûlü fâ‘ilâtü mefâ‘îlü fâ‘ilün" pattern of the muzari measure. The rhyme is the sound "-ā": bī-vefā, Kerbelā, ḫaṭā, fenā, Muṣṭafā, mācerā, ‘azā, revā, evliyā; the poem has no redif (refrain word). The address "ey çarḫ-ı bī-vefā" (O faithless wheel of heaven) that closes the first line of the opening couplet is repeated verbatim in rhyme position at the end of couplet 2.

The poem is found in all three manuscripts (VT 11a, VY 10b, Ü 8a). The heading in the edition is "Der-mers̱iye-i evlād-ı Nebī", "Elegy for the Prophet's grandchildren". In Ersoy's apparatus the heading of the Vatican manuscript names Hasan, Hüseyin and the martyrs of Karbala more explicitly; because some letters of this heading could not be printed in the edition, its exact reading cannot be given. The Ü manuscript has no heading. When Ersoy counts the twenty-nine kasides of the divan by subject, he names one as "an elegy for Hasan and Hüseyin"; this is that kaside. For whom it was written is clear from the heading and the text; there is no information on when or on what occasion it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The elegy opens with a reproach to the wheel of heaven. In divan poetry the wheel of heaven (felek) is the revolving dome of the sky held responsible for what befalls human beings; in the first couplet Münîrî ties its turning to the "seizing" of the blood of the Karbala martyrs, that is, to the spilt blood returning upon it as ill fortune. Karbala is named in the first couplet, Hüseyin in couplets 6 and 33, Hasan in couplet 34. The first nineteen couplets spread the grief of Karbala across every part of nature: the heavens dip their mourning robe in blue (7), the dawn tears its collar (11), the twilight stays red-faced (12), the seven heavens lament (14), the sun trembles (15), the Euphrates beats itself against the stones (16). These are examples of hüsn-i talil (poetic aetiology), the figure that ties a natural event to a fine cause of the poem's choosing. The image of the Euphrates in couplet 16 is especially apt; the sound of water striking the stones is read as the cry of one who beats himself for having failed to come to the rescue.

The poem turns often to antithesis. In couplet 2 the falcon perched on the Sidra and the ill-omened crow, in couplet 3 the lion's cub and the fox, are set against each other. "Gül-i sīr-āb-ı teşne-leb" in couplet 8, "fresh rose sated with water, of thirsting lips", joins satiety with water and thirst in the same phrase; the cutting off of water at Karbala turns in couplet 17 into punishment: the enemy who gave no water has left himself thirsty in hell. In couplet 18 Hüseyin is the "candle of the soul"; the link between cutting off a candle's head and the beheading of the martyr builds tenasüp (congruence of images).

In the middle section (20-24) imprecation and cursing come to the fore. Couplet 20 seems to answer a view holding that Yezid should not be cursed after his death with "we will say God's curse upon him even though we die". Couplet 21, alluding to the staff of Moses turning into a dragon, says that the stick that touched the innocent will in the end become a dragon to its owner. After couplet 25 the tone changes; the poet tells of his wish to visit the tomb (26-27), of the light of the grave and the angels' visits (28-32). In couplets 33-37 the two brothers are named together: Hasan, who died by drinking poison, is praised beside Hüseyin through the cinas between "ḫulḳ-ı ḥüsn" and "Ḥasan". Couplet 37 names the two through a play on letters; "sîn" and "nûn" are the letters shared by the names Hasan and Hüseyin, and the poet ties them to the letters in the words Yâsîn and "innemâ".

The last two couplets turn the poem towards the poet himself. In couplet 39 the pen name (mahlas) appears in the form "Münīr"; he says that beside what the age did to the Prophet's grandchildren, his own sufferings are not worth mentioning. In the last couplet he prays that when he dies there may be on his tongue tevhid, na‘t and praise of the Prophet's children. These three kinds also reflect the order of the opening section of the manuscripts; as Ersoy notes, the poems of divine unity and supplication were placed first in the manuscripts, the na‘ts followed them, and this elegy comes directly after.

Bibliography

Online sources