Original Persian Text

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

Eşk-i gül-gūnem ki şod der-rāh-ı to mānend-i cū
Behr-i deryā-yı viṣālet mī-şeved der-cüst ü cū
Şerbet-i tīġet ki mī-gūyend dermān-ı men ūst
Çün serencām-ı men īn şod to çi fermāyī be-gū
Ger ne-dāned ḥaḳḳeş āḫir āyed ez-bīnī-i ḫod
Şod ṣurāḥī-rā şikem ḫūn-ı ‘ıneb pür tā-gelū
Ca‘d-ı zülfet-rā çi mī-gūyed dil-i üftādeem
Mī-şeved ḥabl-i metīn-i ṣad çü men yek tār-ı ū
Ser nihādem pīş-i tīġet goft ū ser mī-keşīd
Bār-ı dīger der-ser-i ānem ki bāşem rū-be-rū
Behr-i bezm-i ‘ārifān-ı mey-gede ber-dūş-ı ḫod
Bende-i pīr-i muġānem mī-keşem lā-büd sebū
Pāk-bāz-ı ‘ışḳ eger ḫᵛāhī ki bāşī ey Münīr
Hemçü mā bā-eşk-i dīde ez-dü gītī dest şū

In English

1. My rose-coloured tears, which flow like a stream on your path, keep searching to find the sea of union with you.

2. They say the sherbet of your sword is my remedy; since this has become my end, tell me whatever you command.

3. The belly of the jug has filled up to its throat with the blood of the grape, that is, with wine; if it does not know its due, in the end it will come out of its own nose.

4. What can my fallen heart say to the curl of your tresses; a single strand of it becomes a firm rope for a hundred like me.

5. I laid my head before your sword, but he said, "He pulled his head back"; next time my intention is to come face to face with the sword.

6. I am the slave of the pîr-i mugân, the old and wise master of the tavern; for the gathering of the tavern's knowers I am bound to carry the jug on my shoulder.

7. O Münîr, if you wish to be a pâkbaz of love, one who stakes and loses everything for love, wash your hands of both worlds with the tears of your eyes, as we do.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a seven-couplet ghazal (gazel) written in Persian; in the edition it is the hundred and thirty-fourth of the Persian ghazals (fg 134). The metre is "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The ghazal has no refrain (redif) and does not appear in Ersoy's list of refrains. The rhyme is the sound "-ū": cū, cüst ü cū, be-gū, gelū, ū, rū-be-rū, sebū, şū. Since most of Münîrî's ghazals have five couplets, this one is somewhat longer than the average. The poem is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 94a). To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet (matla) is built from images of water. The lover's rose-coloured, that is, bloody tears have become a stream on the beloved's path, and like every stream it longs to reach the sea, here the sea of union. In the rhyme there is a pun (cinas) based on the likeness of sound between "cū" (stream) and "cüst ü cū" (search); the stream is searching for the sea it seeks. This pun is our own observation.

In the second couplet the "sherbet" of the sword is offered to the lover as a remedy. Sherbet is used both for a sweet drink and for a medicine; the sword's sherbet, however, is death. The lover has accepted this end and waits only for the beloved's command. The third couplet, as Ersoy explains it, has the air of a proverb: the jug has filled with wine up to its throat, and if it does not know its due the wine will come out of its nose. The Persian word "bīnī" (nose) may also be thought of as the spout of the jug; the overflowing of the overfilled jug is then told as the punishment of one who does not value a blessing. This reading is our own inference.

In the fourth couplet a strand of the tresses is likened to "ḥabl-i metīn", in its dictionary sense a firm rope. The tresses become both a snare that binds lovers and a rope for them to hold on to. In the fifth couplet the word "ser" (head) is repeated in three different uses: laying the head before the sword, pulling the head back (shrinking away), and "der-ser-i ān", being intent on something. The repetition of a word in different senses shows Münîrî's fondness for wordplay. The lover once held out his head to the sword, but the beloved thought he had drawn it back; next time he will meet the sword face to face.

The last two couplets move to the gathering of the rinds (the free-spirited drinkers). The pîr-i mugân is the old and wise master of the tavern; the lover counts it an honour to be his slave and to carry the jug for the gathering of the knowers. The word "pāk-bāz" in the pen-name couplet (mahlas), in its dictionary sense, is one who stakes everything at gambling, who plays clean. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between "pāk" (clean) and "washing the hands"; the idiom "to wash one's hands of both worlds" expresses giving up both this world and the next. Ersoy explains the couplet as "losing everything on the path of love".

Bibliography

Online sources