Original Persian Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün fe‘ūlün

Dilā ger mī-şeved cām u ḫarābāt
Çi kār āyed merā keşf ü kerāmāt
Be-devr-i gül me-şev bī-sāġar u mey
Be-baḫşā ṣūfiyān-rā zühd ü ṭāmmāt
Zi-şevḳ-ı ān dü la‘l-i āteşīnet
Merā mī-sūzed āḫir īn ḥarārāt
Mükedder-ḥālem ez-zülfeyn-i çīnet
Velī dārem ṣafāhā īn çi ḥālāt
Miyānet mū dehānet hem ser-i mū
Kocā bāşed merā z’īn bih ḫayālāt
Kitāb-ı ḥüsneş er ḫᵛānī ser-ā-ser
Münīr ez-to ‘aceb ne īn kemālāt

In English

1. O heart, if there are the cup and the tavern, what use to me are mystic unveiling and miracles. ("Keşf ü kerāmāt", in its dictionary sense, means the unveiling of hidden things and the wondrous deeds ascribed to saints.)

2. In the season of the rose do not be without the goblet and wine; make a gift of asceticism and empty boasts to the Sufis. ("Ṭāmmāt", in its dictionary sense, means big talk, showy words; Ersoy renders it as "words concerning miracles".)

3. From longing for those two fiery rubies of your lips, this heat is in the end burning me.

4. Because of your two Chinese-curled locks my state is troubled; yet I have many joys within, what a state is this. ("Mükedder", in its dictionary sense, means turbid, sorrowful; "ṣafā" means clearness and gladness of heart. Ersoy reads it as "my state is both confused and pure".)

5. Your waist is a hair, and your mouth the tip of a hair; where could there be a fancy finer for me than these. (In divan poetry the beloved's waist is depicted as thin as a hair and the mouth as so small as to be almost invisible.)

6. O Münîr, if you read the book of the beloved's beauty from end to end, these perfections are no wonder coming from you. (The couplet can be read in two ways. Ersoy reads it as "If you read the beloved's book of beauty from beginning to end, there is nothing to wonder at in that; this is the true perfection"; the second line can also be read as saying that it is no wonder that the poet who reads the book of beauty displays these perfections.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a six-couplet ghazal (gazel) written in Persian; in the edition it is the twenty-eighth of the Persian ghazals (fg 28). The metre is "mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün fe‘ûlün"; this short metre gives the ghazal a quick, light delivery. The ghazal has no refrain (redif). In Ersoy's list of refrains the number 28 appears beside the refrain "ūst"; in the edition, however, that refrain is found in the following ghazal (fg 29). The rhyme is the sound "-āt", and all the rhyme words are Arabic plurals or nouns ending in "-āt": ḫarābāt, kerāmāt, ṭāmmāt, ḥarārāt, ḥālāt, ḫayālāt, kemālāt. The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 68a) and Vienna (VY 52a) manuscripts. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first two couplets of the ghazal set up the familiar opposition between the libertine and the Sufi. While there are the tavern and the cup, unveiling and miracles are of no use to the lover; in the season of the rose one does not stay without wine, and asceticism and big talk are left to the Sufis. "Ḫarābāt" (tavern) and "kerāmāt" (miracles) in the opening couplet, and "zühd" (asceticism) and "ṭāmmāt" (empty boasts) in the second, set two worlds against each other. The miracle the Sufi boasts of is worth no more than a cup in the libertine's eyes. Ersoy assesses Münîrî as a libertine (rind) and a lover; these two couplets are a clear expression of that stance.

After the third couplet the ghazal turns to the beloved's beauty. The lips are pieces of fire and burn the lover; there is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between the redness of the ruby and the colour of fire. The fourth couplet rests on a contrast (tezat). The curling locks trouble the lover's state, yet the lover is full of joy. In their dictionary senses the words "mükedder" and "ṣafā" also stand opposed as turbidity and clearness; the contrast is therefore built through both feeling and the image of water. The lover marvels at his own state: "what a state is this".

In the fifth couplet the beloved's waist is a hair and the mouth the tip of a hair. That both images are built on the word "mū" (hair) gives the couplet a cadence of repetition; the lover counts these almost invisible beauties the finest of fancies. In the pen-name couplet (mahlas) the beloved's beauty is likened to a book. To read the book of beauty from end to end is to gaze on all the beloved's beauties one by one. The words book, reading and perfection bind the poet's learning and mastery of speech to the beloved's beauty. The ghazal thus opens with the Sufi's claim to miracles and closes with the perfection of the poet who reads the book of beauty.

Bibliography

Online sources