Original Persian Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün fe‘ūlün

Zi-‘ışḳet rūyem er şod ṣūret-i bih
Ne-bāşed rūy-ı ‘uşşāḳ-ı to z’īn bih
Berāy-ı ḫūn-ı eşkem ger nihī dāġ
Be-rīş-i īn dil-i mecrūḥ-ı men nih
Ḫalāṣ-ı tīr k’ez şaṣt-ı to bāşed
Hezārān mī-koned taḥsīn ū zih
Zi-tīr-i ġamze dil nālīd ü cān goft
To-rā der-ḫor ne-bāşed ger be-men dih
Be-faḳr-ı īn gedā me’nger Münīrī
Ne-dāned ‘ışḳ-ı meh-rūyān mih ü kih

In English

1. If through love of you my face has taken on "ṣūret-i bih", that is, has yellowed like a quince or taken a fine form, the faces of your lovers can be no better than this. (Ersoy gives the meaning "a fine form"; the quince reading is ours.)

2. If you mean to brand me so that my bloody tears may flow, set the brand upon the wound of this wounded heart of mine.

3. At the release of the arrow that flies from your thumb, thousands of times "bravo" and "zih" (well done) are said. (In Ersoy's meaning it is the archer's thumb ring that gives this praise.)

4. The heart groaned from the arrow of your sidelong glance; the soul said to it: "If those arrows do not suit you, give them to me."

5. O Münîrî, do not look at the poverty of this beggar; the love of the moon-faced knows neither great nor small.

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 forty-fourth of the Persian ghazals (fg 144). The metre is "mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün fe‘ûlün". The ghazal has no refrain (redif) and does not appear in Ersoy's list of refrains. The rhyme is the sound "-ih": bih, nih, zih, dih, kih; in the opening couplet "bih" serves as rhyme twice. All the rhyme words are short words of a single syllable, and this gives the ghazal a tight, clipped sound. The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 96a) and Vienna (VY 77a) manuscripts. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Most of the ghazal's figures of speech rest on the double meanings carried by its short rhyme words. The word "bih" in the opening couplet (matla), in its Persian dictionary sense, means both "better, fine" and "quince". Ersoy understands "ṣūret-i bih" as "a fine form". For the lover's face to turn to "the form of a quince" through love, however, means to grow yellow; in divan poetry the lover's complexion is always yellow. In the second of Münîrî's Turkish ghazals, which follow shortly after, the line "Benüm gibi ṣarartmış beñzin ayvā" (the quince has turned its face yellow like mine) also occurs. This two-way reading is our own observation. "Z'īn bih" (better than this) in the second line uses the word this time only in the sense of "good"; the same sound thus rhymes twice in the opening couplet with two different meanings.

In the second couplet the lover asks the beloved to set the brand upon the wound of his heart. To brand, in its dictionary sense, is to burn with a hot iron, and it was once also done to close wounds. The lover wants not the healing of his wound but the flowing of his bloody tears; a method of treatment is turned into a path that increases pain.

In the third couplet terms of archery come together: "tīr" (arrow), "şaṣt" (thumb; the finger with which the archer draws the string) and "zih". This last word, in its Persian dictionary sense, is both "bowstring" and the exclamation of approval "bravo, well done". That "zih" is said thousands of times at the arrow's release calls to mind both the sound of the string and the praise of onlookers. This pun (cinas) is our own observation. Ersoy understands the couplet to mean that even the archer's thumb ring says bravo.

In the fourth couplet a conversation passes between heart and soul. The heart, wounded by the arrow of the glance, groans, while the soul, jealous, says that these arrows do not suit the heart and should be given to it. The two parts of the lover being unable to share the beloved's arrow presents pain as a favour. In the pen-name couplet (mahlas) "mih ü kih", in its dictionary sense, means "great and small". Love does not look at the beggar's poverty; great and small, rich and poor are one in its eyes.

Bibliography

Online sources