Original Persian Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün

Der-her ḥadīs̱-i ‘ışḳ-ı men ez-rūy-ı Pehlevī
Ey dil ḥikāyetest be-elfāẓ-ı Ma‘nevī
Ez-pertev-i ṭulū‘-ı ruḫet būd yek ḳabes
Īn rūşenī ki hest be-i‘cāz-ı Mūsevī
Ger mī-küşī merā be-küş ey dost mī-resed
Ber-gūş-ı cān zi-la‘l-i to enfās-ı ‘Īsevī
Ḫālī me-bād ez-ser-i mā ḫāk-i der-gehet
Īnest bendegān-ı to-rā tāc-ı Ḫüsrevī
Āḫir be-sūy-ı türbet-i men ger güẕer konī
Ez-ḫāk-i ḳabr-i men heme ẕikr-i to be’şnevī
Fāriġ me-şev zi-‘ışḳ-ı meh-i gül-ruḫ ey Münīr
Dānī ki īn ḳażiyye ‘amel būd uḫrevī
Be’gẕer zi-fikr-i ‘ālem ü z’endīşe-i cihān
Çün reh-zen-i to mī-şeved esbāb-ı dünyevī

In English

1. O heart, every episode of the love I live through because of the face of a Pehlevî (Persian) beauty is a story told in the words of the Ma'nevî (Rûmî's Mesnevî). (The couplet can be read in two ways; the details are in the commentary.)

2. This brightness in the miracle of Moses was an ember fallen from the light of your cheek's rising.

3. O friend, if you would kill me, kill me; from your ruby lip the breaths of Jesus reach the ear of my soul.

4. May the dust of your door never be empty of our heads; for your servants this is the crown of Khosrow.

5. If in the end you should pass by my tomb, you will hear the earth of my grave always speaking your name.

6. O Münîr, do not leave off the love of the rose-cheeked moon-faced one; you know that this cause is a matter of the hereafter.

7. Give up the thought of the world and the cares of this life; for worldly means become the highwaymen of your path.

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 forty-eighth of the Persian ghazals (fg 148). The metre is "mef‘ûlü fâ‘ilâtü mefâ‘îlü fâ‘ilün". The ghazal has no refrain (redif) and does not appear in Ersoy's list of refrains. The rhyme is the sound "-evī": Pehlevī, Ma‘nevī, Mūsevī, ‘Īsevī, Ḫüsrevī, be'şnevī, uḫrevī, dünyevī. Most of the rhyme words are adjectives formed with the relational suffix, and each carries a name: Pehlevî, Moses, Jesus, Khosrow. The pen name (mahlas) occurs in the sixth couplet, and the ghazal runs on for one more couplet. The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 97b) and Vienna (VY 77b) manuscripts. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet (matla) is the couplet most open to interpretation in the ghazal. The word "rūy", in its dictionary sense, means both "face" and "aspect, respect"; "Pehlevī" means both the old Iranian language and hero, and figuratively an Iranian, a Persian. Ersoy understands the couplet as "every episode of the love I live through because of a Persian beauty becomes a story in the words of the Mesnevî". The line can also be read as "in its Pehlevî (Persian) aspect, every word of my love is a story in the terms of the Ma'nevî"; in that case the poet compares his own Persian poetry with Rûmî's language. "Ma‘nevī" recalls Rûmî's work, the Mesnevî-i Ma‘nevî. In his introduction Ersoy notes that Münîrî says the art of the ghazal was granted to him in the beloved's age of beauty, just as the Mesnevî belongs to Rûmî; the reference in this couplet shows the same connection. The second reading and this link are our own inference.

The next three couplets are built from allusions (telmih) to prophets and kings. The word "ḳabes", in its dictionary sense, means an ember taken from a fire, and it occurs in the Qur'anic story of Moses where Moses wishes to bring his family an ember from the fire (Tâhâ 20:10). Ersoy explains "i‘cāz-ı Mūsevī" as the miracle of Moses' shining hand. So both the fire Moses saw and the light in his hand become an ember fallen from the beloved's cheek. In the third couplet the beloved's lip is likened to the breath of Jesus that raised the dead; that is why the lover does not fear death. In the fourth couplet the head laid on the dust of the beloved's door is held equal to the crown of Khosrow, the title of the Sasanian kings. The contrast between dust and crown presents the lover's servitude as a kind of kingship.

In the fifth couplet even the lover's grave speaks of the beloved. The pen-name couplet and the last couplet turn the ghazal into counsel. Love is "uḫrevī", a cause turned toward the hereafter; worldly means are bandits who cut the road. The rhymes "uḫrevī" (of the hereafter) and "dünyevī" (worldly) facing each other in the last two couplets create a contrast, and set all the worldly names of the ghazal, Pehlevî and Khosrow, against love as a matter of the hereafter. This contrast is our own observation.

Bibliography

Online sources