Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilün

Bûsene cân virmiş iken virdi bûsen bana cân
Ma’nide ey gonçe-leb öpdüm lebüni râygân

In English

1. While I had given my life for your kiss, your kiss gave me life again; so in truth, O rosebud-lipped beloved, I kissed your lip for nothing. (The lover who gave his life to obtain a kiss has received his life back through the kiss; the bargain has balanced out, and the kiss has cost him nothing.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a matla (opening couplet), a single couplet (beyit) whose two lines rhyme with each other, written in the metre "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün" of the remel family of aruz (quantitative metre). The metre is not stated in the biographical anthologies; it has been deduced from the scansion of the couplet. The rhyme is the sound "-ân" in "cân" and "râygân". The couplet is the first example given from Sürûrî's poems in the biographical anthologies (tezkire) of Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi and Beyânî. The text followed here is Kınalızâde's. Beyânî gives the first line as "Bûsene ben cân virürken virdi bûsen bana cân" (while I was giving my life for your kiss, your kiss gave me life). Latîfî too quotes the couplet in the biographical anthology he completed in 953 (1546), while Sürûrî was still alive, saying "Bu maṭlaʿ-ı maṭbûʿ anuñ eşʿârındandur" (this fine matla is among his poems); in his text the second line reads "Laʿlüñi ey ġonca-leb maʿnîde öpdüm râygân" (O rosebud-lipped one, in truth I kissed your ruby lip for nothing). Latîfî states plainly that the couplet is a matla, but the rest of the ghazal is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The couplet joins two familiar ideas of divan poetry in a reckoning of trade. The first is that the lover is ready to give his life for a kiss from the beloved; the price of a kiss is a life. The second is that the beloved's lip is life-giving enough to restore the dead; in divan poetry the beloved's lip is likened to the breath of Jesus, which raised the dead. When Sürûrî sets these two ideas side by side, a surprising result follows: the lover has given his life for the kiss, and the kiss has given him back his life. The account balances, and the lover has paid nothing. That is why in the second line he says, "in truth I kissed your lip for nothing".

The figures of speech of the couplet are built around this reckoning. There is a play on words (cinas) between "bûsene" (for your kiss) and "bûsen" (your kiss), and a repetition (tekrir) in the twofold use of the word "cân" (life); the first "life" is the price paid, the second the life bestowed. The two-way use of the verb "to give" shows the reciprocity of the exchange. The epithet "gonca-leb" (rosebud-lipped) describes a lip small and red like an unopened rosebud and adds colour to the scene of the kiss. The word "râygân" (for nothing) closes the couplet in the language of the market and completes the wit.

Historical Context

To whom and when the couplet was written is not known; since it appears in Latîfî's anthology, it was written before 953 (1546), that is, before Sürûrî went to Amasya. Latîfî counts Sürûrî a great scholar for his commentaries on the Qur'an, on hadith and on Persian works, but says that he did not give much effort to poetry, and with the saying "yek-fen ġâlibdür zü-fünûna", the man of one art prevails over the man of many, suggests that his poetry fell short of his learning. Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi, after saying that Sürûrî's Turkish poems were beyond count and that he had three divans, places this couplet at the head of the examples. Beyânî records that Sürûrî's works were greatly popular among the common people but not much esteemed by learned readers, and then he too begins with this couplet. That three biographers chose the same couplet shows that it was one of Sürûrî's best-known couplets.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources