Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü mefā‘ilün fe‘ūlün

1. bent

Zülfüñ ḳılalı beni giriftār
Cādū gözüñ itdi cānı bīmār
Düşdümse ne var belā-yı ‘ışḳa
Kimdür ki senüñ-çün olmaya zār
Demdür k’irişe viṣāle göñlüm
Hicr itdi be-ġāyet anı efgār
Fürḳatde ġamuñdan özge cānā
Yār olmadı ben ġarībe deyyār
Bilür bilürem cihān bunı hep
Didüm yine direm anı tekrār
‘Uşşāḳa dü ‘ālem içre ḥāṣıl
Besdür ġam-ı ‘ışḳ-ı dil-ber ey dil

2. bent

‘Uşşāḳet egerçi bī-ḥisābest
Īşān heme bī-to der-‘aẕābest
Ma‘mūre-i zühd ü şehr-i taḳvā
Ez-siḥr-i dü nergiset ḫarābest
Bā-sāḳī-i gül-‘iẕār u gül-ruḫ
Der-ser heves-i şarāb-ı nābest
Rāh-ı to ki şod dırāz u bīm-nāk
Ber-ḫīz dilā çi cāy-ı ḫᵛābest
Bī-sūz-ı ġamet ne-mī şevem hīc
Bādā ciger ārzū-yı kebābest
‘Uşşāḳa dü ‘ālem içre ḥāṣıl
Besdür ġam-ı ‘ışḳ-ı dil-ber ey dil

3. bent

Sāḳī kerem it getür berü cām
Bu devri getürdi çün serencām
Sen Ḥıżr-ı zamān elinden ey dost
Demdür k’irişe müdām-ı gül-fām
Bir cür‘a lebüñ meyinden irse
Şāyed bu göñül bulaydı ārām
Fevt eyleme furṣat elde-y-iken
Küymez bize ḥāṣılı bu eyyām
Olmışdı göñül ġamuñla maḥzūn
Nā-geh bu söz oldı yine ilhām
‘Uşşāḳa dü ‘ālem içre ḥāṣıl
Besdür ġam-ı ‘ışḳ-ı dil-ber ey dil

4. bent

Ey dil me-ṭaleb zi-mā müdāvā
Pīş ez-to be-geşt yār-ı mā-rā
Der her çemenī belā-yı cān şod
Reftār-ı ḳadet be-serv-i bālā
Her kes ṭalebed zi-to murādī
Derd-i to be-cān-ı men temennā
Ān kes ki to-rā resīd imrūz
Āḫir resed ū be-vaṣl-ı ferdā
Īn rāz-ı nihān ki şod nühüfte
Min ba‘d verā konīm peydā
‘Uşşāḳa dü ‘ālem içre ḥāṣıl
Besdür ġam-ı ‘ışḳ-ı dil-ber ey dil

5. bent

Gerçi dinilür cihāna külḫan
Ḫaddüñle ser-ā-ser oldı gül-şen
Vīrānsa ne deñlü ḫāne-i dil
İdindi ḫayālüñ anı mesken
Āzādelıġ ile oldı meşhūr
Ḳaddüñe ḳul olmaġ ile sūsen
Mihrüñle Münīr olursa ṭañ mı
Gün gibi cihān içinde rūşen
Olduḳça ġamuñla dil şikeste
Bu beyti ḳılurun aña me’men
‘Uşşāḳa dü ‘ālem içre ḥāṣıl
Besdür ġam-ı ‘ışḳ-ı dil-ber ey dil

In English

1. Ever since your curling lock made me its captive, your sorcerer's eye has made my soul sick.

2. What if I have fallen into the affliction of love? Who is there that does not moan for your sake?

3. It is time for my heart to attain union; separation has wounded it beyond measure. (In the Istanbul University manuscript the word order is "anı be-ġāyet".)

4. O beloved, in separation no one but your sorrow has been a friend to me, the stranger. ("Deyyār", in its dictionary sense, means "anyone"; it echoes "yār", friend.)

5. The whole world knows this, and I know it; I have said it, and I say it again:

6. O heart, for lovers the gain in both worlds is the sorrow of love for the beloved, and that is enough.

7. Though your lovers are past counting, all of them are in torment without you. (A Persian couplet. Ersoy's rendering does not translate "without you"; the text has "bī-to", without you.)

8. The flourishing edifice of asceticism and the city of piety have been laid waste by the magic of your two narcissi, that is, your eyes. (A Persian couplet. The Vienna and Istanbul University manuscripts have "ḫāne-i", house of, in place of "şehr-i", city of.)

9. Together with the rose-cheeked, rose-faced cupbearer, there is in my head a longing for pure wine. (A Persian couplet. "Der-ser", in its dictionary sense, means "in the head"; Ersoy renders it "in the heart".)

10. O heart, since your road is long and fearful, rise up; is this a place for sleep? (A Persian couplet. "Rāh-ı to" is literally "your road"; Ersoy explains it as the road that leads to the beloved.)

11. Without the burning of your sorrow I never exist for a moment; my liver longs to be roasted, and so let it be. (A Persian couplet; the rendering follows the same line as Ersoy's interpretation. The Vatican manuscript has "ez-rūy-ı" and the Istanbul University manuscript "ez-vey" in place of "ārzū-yı".)

12. O heart, for lovers the gain in both worlds is the sorrow of love for the beloved, and that is enough.

13. Cupbearer, be generous and bring the cup here, for this turn has reached its end. ("Devr" means both an age or period of time and the passing of the cup from hand to hand in a drinking gathering.)

14. O friend, you are the Khidr of the age; it is time to receive the rose-coloured wine from your hand. (Khidr is known as the one who found the water of life; the cupbearer is likened to him. "Müdām", in its dictionary sense, means both wine and "constant".)

15. If a sip of the wine of your lips should reach it, perhaps this heart would find rest.

16. Do not let the chance slip while it is in hand; in short, these days will not wait for us. ("Küymek", in its dictionary sense, is an old Turkish verb meaning to wait for, to watch over.)

17. The heart had grown sad with your sorrow; suddenly these words came to it again as inspiration:

18. O heart, for lovers the gain in both worlds is the sorrow of love for the beloved, and that is enough.

19. O heart, do not seek a cure for your pain from us; he became our beloved before you did. (A Persian couplet. The meaning of the second line is not entirely clear; the rendering rests on Ersoy's interpretation.)

20. The swaying gait of your stature has become, in every meadow, an affliction to the head of the tall cypress. (A Persian couplet. The cypress is pictured as envious of the beloved's stature.)

21. Everyone asks some wish of you; my soul's desire is the pain you give. (A Persian couplet.)

22. Whoever reaches you today will in the end attain the union of tomorrow as well. (A Persian couplet. "Ferdā", in its dictionary sense, means tomorrow and is also used for the hereafter.)

23. This hidden secret that we have kept concealed, we shall from now on reveal to him: (A Persian couplet; the meaning is the same as in Ersoy's interpretation.)

24. O heart, for lovers the gain in both worlds is the sorrow of love for the beloved, and that is enough.

25. Though the world is called a furnace, your cheek has turned it into a rose garden from end to end. ("Külḫan", in its dictionary sense, is the furnace that heats a bathhouse.)

26. However ruined the house of the heart may be, your image has made it its dwelling.

27. The lily has won fame for its freedom by becoming a slave to your stature. (In poetry the lily is called "âzâde", free; being a slave and being free form an antithesis.)

28. Is it any wonder if Münîr, through love of you, becomes as bright as the sun in the world? ("Mihr" means both love and the sun; the pen name "Münīr" also means, in its dictionary sense, "illuminating, radiant".)

29. As long as the heart is broken by your sorrow, I make this couplet its refuge: ("Ḳılurun" means "I make".)

30. O heart, for lovers the gain in both worlds is the sorrow of love for the beloved, and that is enough.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a terci-bend (strophic poem with refrain couplet). The terci-bend is a verse form in which stanzas written in the same metre, each rhymed within itself like a ghazal (gazel), are linked by a "linking couplet" (vasıta beyti) repeated unchanged at the end of every stanza. Numbered Terci-bend 2 in the edition, this poem consists of five stanzas; each stanza has six couplets, thirty couplets in all. The metre is "mef‘ûlü mefâ‘ilün fe‘ûlün"; Ersoy notes that Münîrî uses a metre of the hezec family in each of his terci-bends. The linking couplet "‘Uşşāḳa dü ‘ālem içre ḥāṣıl / Besdür ġam-ı ‘ışḳ-ı dil-ber ey dil" is repeated five times and rhymes within itself on the words "ḥāṣıl / dil". The poem is found in all three manuscripts (VT 59a, VY 41b, Ü 16b); in the edition its heading is simply "Terci‘-bend", and in the Istanbul University manuscript it bears the heading "Ve lehū". To whom and when it was written is not known.

The poem is written in two languages. The first, third and fifth stanzas are in Turkish; the second and fourth are in Persian. Ersoy gives the meaning of the couplets of these two stanzas in his apparatus, while the linking couplet is in Turkish in every stanza. Each stanza uses its own rhyme: "-ār" in the first (giriftār, bīmār, zār), the rhyme "-āb" with the redif (refrain word) "-est" in the second (bī-ḥisābest, ḫarābest, şarāb-ı nābest), "-ām" in the third (cām, serencām, gül-fām), "-ā" in the fourth (müdāvā, mā-rā, bālā), "-en" in the fifth (külḫan, gül-şen, mesken). Ersoy's observation that in Münîrî's terci-bends only one stanza each has a redif fits the second stanza of this poem.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Ersoy characterises the poem as one in which the feelings of a lover are treated. The linking couplet carries the thought of the whole poem: the lover's share of both worlds is the sorrow that comes from love of the beloved, and that is enough for him. The stanzas work out this thought from different angles. The first stanza is the lover's complaint of separation, captive and sick before the curling lock and the sorcerer's eye. The Persian second stanza speaks of asceticism and piety laid waste by the beloved's eyes, of the cupbearer and the longing for wine, and of the call to stay awake on the long and fearful road; in couplet 11 the lover himself asks that his liver be roasted in the fire of sorrow. The third stanza has the air of a sakiname (cupbearer poem): the cup is asked of the cupbearer, the cupbearer is likened to the Khidr of the age, and the listener is urged not to let the chance slip. The Persian fourth stanza is the voice of a lover who prefers pain to its cure: everyone asks some wish of the beloved, but the lover's desire is the pain the beloved gives. The fifth stanza tells how the beloved's beauty transforms the world and the heart; the furnace becomes a rose garden, the ruined heart a dwelling for the beloved's image.

A notable feature of the poem's construction is that in some stanzas the passage to the linking couplet is prepared by an announcement of speech. In the first stanza the poet says "I have said it, and I say it again" (5); in the third, "suddenly these words came to it again as inspiration" (17); in the fourth, "we shall reveal this hidden secret to him" (23); in the fifth, "I make this couplet its refuge" (29), and the linking couplet follows at once. The repeated couplet is thus presented each time as a saying, an inspiration, a secret or a refuge. In Münîrî's Terci-bend 1, written for the Prophet, the linking couplet is likewise repeated after the preceding couplet has announced whose voice will speak it.

In terms of figures of speech, the clearest example is the couplet with the pen name (mahlas). In couplet 28 "mihr", in its two senses of love and sun, forms a congruence of images (tenasüp) with "gün gibi", like the sun, and "rūşen", bright; and since the poet's pen name "Münīr" means "illuminating" in its dictionary sense, the couplet uses the pen name together with its meaning. In couplet 27 the lily winning a name for freedom by becoming a slave rests on antithesis. The word "devr" in couplet 13 denotes both the turning of time and the passing of the cup in the gathering; the word "müdām" in couplet 14 likewise carries the senses of wine and constancy together. In couplet 4 "yār" and "deyyār" echo each other in sound. In couplet 25 "külḫan" and "gül-şen" are two words that are opposite in meaning and close in sound.

Bibliography

Online sources