Mihri Hatun

Mihri Hatun (also known as Lady Mihri and Mihri Khatun, Ottoman Turkish: مهری خاتون; "sun/light"; c. 1460 - c. 1506), was an Ottoman poet. She was the daughter of a kadi (an Ottoman judge) and according to sources she spent most of her life in and near Amasya, in Anatolia. Documentation places her as a member of the literary circle of Şehzade Ahmed, the son of Sultan Bayezid II. She is referred to as the "Sappho of the Ottomans".

Poetry
Lady Mihri's poems reveal an artist grounded in both Turkish and Persian literature, writing in such forms as the Gazel, as well as the recipient of a deep literary education. Modern critics, such as Bernard Lewis describe her style as “retaining remarkable freshness and simplicity.”

One of her more popular lines goes as follows:

“At one glance

I love you

With a thousand hearts

Let the zealots think

Loving is sinful

Never mind

Let me burn in the hellfire

Of that sin.”

Another is:

“My heart burns in flames of sorrow

Sparks and smoke rise turning to the sky

Within me the heart has taken fire like a candle

My body, whirling, is a lighthouse illuminated by your image.”