Original Persian Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün

Telḫ-kāmī mī-dehed bī-la‘l-i vey ṣahbā-yı men
Rāst ne-āyed bī-ḳad-i ān serv-i dil-cū rāy-ı men
Güm şod ārī ṭāḳat ü ṣabrem heme der-‘ışḳ-ı to
Şod füzūnter der-ser-i ān zülf her sevdā-yı men
Fürḳat-i yek-rūze-rā tāḳat ne-mī-āred dilem
Müddetī ger mī-şeved ḥālem çonīn ey vāy-ı men
Hem çü Ferhād ez-firāḳ-ı ān büt-i şīrīn-dehen
Zūd mī-bāşed be-ān Ḫüsrev resed ḥelvā-yı men
Sāye-i ḳaddeş be-ser key mī-füted yā Rab Münīr
Bāşed ān devlet meger ez-himmet-i bālā-yı men

In English

1. Without his ruby lip my red wine gives bitterness to the mouth; without the stature of that heart-winning cypress my judgement does not come out right. ("Rāst", in its dictionary sense, means both right, accurate, and perfectly straight.)

2. Yes, my strength and patience are all lost in your love; at the tip of those curls every passion of mine has grown the greater.

3. My heart cannot bear even a single day's separation; if my state goes on like this for a while longer, woe is me.

4. Like Ferhad, from separation from that sweet-mouthed idol, my halva too will soon reach that Khusrau. (Ersoy too understands it as "like Ferhad, my halva will quickly reach that king"; that the halva here calls to mind the halva cooked after a death is our own inference.)

5. O Lord, when will the shadow of his stature fall upon my head, O Münîr? If that fortune comes, it will come only from my lofty resolve.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet ghazal (gazel) written in Persian; in the edition it is the hundred and twenty-sixth of the Persian ghazals (fg 126). The metre is "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The refrain (redif) is the phrase "-i men" (of mine); in Ersoy's list of refrains the ghazal is given with this refrain. The rhyme is the sound "-ā": ṣahbā, rāy, sevdā, vāy, ḥelvā, bālā. The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 92a) and Vienna (VY 73b) manuscripts. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In the opening couplet the beloved's lip and stature are set against wine and judgement. Without the lip wine tastes bitter; without the stature judgement does not come out right. The word "rāst", in its dictionary sense, means both right and straight, and in divan poetry it is associated with the cypress rising perfectly straight; that judgement is not "rāst" in the absence of the cypress-like stature sets up a double entendre (tevriye) between these two senses. This observation is our own. There is also a contrast between the sweetness of the ruby lip and "telḫ" (bitter).

In the second couplet the word "sevdā", in its dictionary sense, means both love, passion and, in old medicine, black bile, and it is associated with the colour black. That the lover's passion grows at the tip of the beloved's black curls rests on this link of colour. In divan poetry the curls are thought of as a place in which hearts are lost; the loss of strength and patience also fits this image.

The fourth couplet alludes to the story of Ferhad and Shirin. The word "şīrīn" in "şīrīn-dehen" (sweet-mouthed) calls up both "sweet" and the name Shirin; Khusrau is the king who is Ferhad's rival in the story. Halva forms a congruence of images (tenasüp) with sweetness. According to Ersoy's rendering, the lover's halva will soon reach Khusrau. Since in Turkish custom halva is cooked and handed out after a death, the couplet may imply that news of the lover's death will reach the rival; that Ferhad too dies after being parted from Shirin in the story supports this reading. This reading is our own inference.

In the pen-name couplet (mahlas) the shadow of the beloved's stature falling on the lover's head is thought of as a devlet, a great good fortune. The Huma bird, whose shadow was believed to bring fortune to the one it fell upon, is a well-known motif of divan poetry, and the use of the words "sāye" (shadow) and "devlet" (fortune) together in the couplet calls it to mind; this is our own inference. The word "bālā", in its dictionary sense, means both stature, height, and lofty; so the beloved's tall stature and the lover's lofty resolve meet in one word.

Bibliography

Online sources