Original Persian Text

Metre: fe‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fe‘ilün

Dāred ez-la‘l-i to nişān ġonca
Ki dehed būy-ı cān ez-ān ġonca
Sırr-ı la‘l-i to-rā ki şod maḥrem
Mühr zed ber-dehān hemān ġonca
Behr-i la‘let nis̱ār ḫᵛāhed şod
Ānçi dāred miyān-ı cān ġonca
Fehm-i sırr-ı leb-i to ne’tvānīst
Gerçi mī-būd ḫurde-dān ġonca
Bī-dehān u leb-i to mis̱l-i Münīr
Şod be-ḫūn-ı ciger ‘ıyān ġonca

In English

1. The rosebud bears a trace of your ruby lip; that is why the scent of the soul comes from that rosebud.

2. When the rosebud became privy to the secret of your ruby lip, it at once set a seal on its own mouth (closed its mouth tight).

3. Whatever the rosebud carries in the middle of its soul, it will scatter as an offering at your ruby lip.

4. Though the rosebud is one who knows fine things, it could not understand the secret of your lip.

5. Parted from your mouth and lip, the rosebud came into view steeped in the blood of its liver, like Münîr.

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 fortieth of the Persian ghazals (fg 140). The metre is "fe‘ilâtün mefâ‘ilün fe‘ilün"; this short metre gives the ghazal a quick, tight rhythm. The refrain (redif) is the word "ġonca" (rosebud), and it is given thus in Ersoy's list of refrains too. The rhyme is the sound "-ān": nişān, ān, hemān, cān, dān, ‘ıyān. Ersoy counts this ghazal among his examples of kafiye-i müreddefe (rhyme with a long vowel before the rhyme letter). The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 95b) and Vienna (VY 76b) manuscripts. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Each couplet of the ghazal describes a relation between the rosebud and the beloved's lip. In divan poetry the beloved's small red mouth is likened to a rosebud; Münîrî works this comparison from five different sides across five couplets. Every feature of the rosebud is explained by a cause tied to the beloved's lip; the ghazal is from beginning to end a chain of poetic aetiology (hüsn-i talil). This unity is our own observation.

In the opening couplet (matla) the rosebud's sweet scent is ascribed to its bearing a trace of the beloved's lip. In the second couplet the rosebud's closed form is read as the keeping of a secret: the rosebud has learned the secret of the beloved's lip and set a seal on its mouth. The word "maḥrem", in its dictionary sense, is one who shares a secret, who is not counted a stranger. Likening the closed rosebud to a sealed mouth ties its unopened state to silence and the keeping of a secret.

In the third couplet the opening of the rosebud is thought of as an offering scattered in tribute. "Nis̱ār", in its dictionary sense, is the money or precious things scattered at weddings or before the great. When the rosebud opens it will scatter what it carries within at the beloved's lip. The word "miyān", in its dictionary sense, means both "middle" and "waist"; here "miyān-ı cān", the middle of the soul, is the innermost part of the rosebud.

In the fourth couplet the word "ḫurde-dān" is of interest. In its dictionary sense the word means one who knows fine things, subtleties; the "ḫurde" within it means "small, tiny". The small rosebud is shown as one who understands fine things, yet even it cannot solve the secret of the beloved's lip. This double meaning is our own observation. In the pen-name couplet (mahlas) the rosebud's redness is ascribed to the blood of its liver: the rosebud too, like Münîr, has been parted from the beloved's mouth and lip, its liver has wept blood, and it has become visible through this blood. Lover and flower thus become two beings sharing the same pain.

Bibliography

Online sources