Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Gerçi kim ḥaddüm degüldür bûseni ḳılmak dilek
ʿÂrif olan çün bilür benden ne lâzım söylemek

In English

1. True, it is not my place to ask you for a kiss; but since the discerning one (the beloved) already knows it, what need is there for me to say it?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Asking Without Saying

The couplet voices a wish by announcing that it will not voice it. The lover first knows his place: to ask the beloved for a kiss is beyond his rank. Then he turns this reticence into a play of wit: the "ârif", the one who grasps the subtlety of things, knows it already, so what need is there to say it. In this way the wish is both said and unsaid. Asking for a "bûse" (kiss) from the beloved's lips is a common theme in divan poetry; the subtle point here is that responsibility for the wish is left to the beloved's understanding.

The word "ârif" can be understood in two ways. In its everyday sense it is a perceptive, intuitive person, and in the couplet it points to the beloved. In the language of Sufism, however, the ârif is one who knows the divine mysteries; on this reading the couplet can also be read as turned towards a higher being who knows the heart's wish without its being put into words. Since the couplet survives on its own, it is impossible to settle which sense prevails.

Its Forms in the Sources

The text is given from Latîfî's anthology dated 953 (1546). Latîfî quotes this couplet and the "Sâkî getür" couplet as "these two matlas" from the words the sultan spoke in conversation and at pleasure. Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi gives the same couplet in the form "Gerçi kim haddüm degüldür bûsunı kılmak taleb / 'Ârif olan çün bilür anı ne lâzım söylemek". The reading "taleb" does not change the meaning but breaks the rhyme between "dilek" in the first line and "söylemek" in the second; in a couplet transmitted as a matla this suggests a copying error. This assessment is not found in the sources. In today's reference works, in the dictionary entry prepared by İsen, the couplet appears under the heading "Matla'", with the first line read as in Latîfî and the second as in Kınalızâde ("anı ne lâzım"). Sehî Beg did not record this couplet. The special typeface of the Latîfî edition has been converted to standard transliteration.

Form

Latîfî's calling it a "matla" shows that the couplet is the first couplet of a ghazal; the rest of the ghazal is unknown. The two lines rhyme on the sound "-ek" in "dilek / söylemek". Latîfî is silent on the metre; scanning the couplet ourselves, we find the pattern "fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün" of the remel metre of aruz.

Historical Context

According to Latîfî, poetry "nâdir sâdır oldı" from Murad II, that is, the sultan said little verse; yet in his time poetry and poets found the esteem they deserved. This couplet is recorded as one of those rare utterances. To whom and on what occasion it was spoken is not known. The other records of Murad II as a poet are gathered in Murâdî (Sultan Murad II): Poet and Works.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Books

Online sources