Original Persian Text

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

Ān gül-endāmī ki eknūn yek gül-i nev-resteest
Der-miyān-ı meh-veşān ey dil hemān gül-desteest
Īn çīn-i zülf-i siyeh bā-dāne-i ḫāleş ki hest
Men ne-gūyem hīc murġ-ı dil zi-dāmeş cesteest
‘Āḳıbet Ḫayrī ki ender-şehr-i mā meşhūr şod
Her ṭaraf z’ū derd-mend-i ‘āşıḳ-ı dil-ḫasteest
Ger zi-men porsī dilā der-vaṣf-ı ān şīrīn-dehen
Bende-i ū ġonca vü bādām u ḳand ü pisteest
Der-tecellī-i cemāleş mī-şeved hemçün Münīr
Her kesī k’ū naḳş-ı ġayr ez levḥ-i ḫāṭır şüsteest

In English

1. O heart, that rose-bodied beauty is now a newly opened rose; and among the moon-faced ones a whole bouquet of roses in himself. ("Gül-endām", in its dictionary sense, means rose-bodied; Ersoy renders it as "rose-statured".)

2. With these curls of his black lock and the grain of his mole, I cannot say that any bird of the heart has escaped his snare. (The lock is likened to a snare for catching birds and the mole to the grain of bait laid in the snare.)

3. In the end, because of Hayrî, who has become famous in our city, every quarter is full of suffering lovers with wounded hearts. (Ersoy writes "Hayrî" with a capital letter and reads it as a proper name; the sources do not say who is meant by this name. The juxtaposition of "āḳıbet" and "ḫayr" also recalls the phrase "âkıbet-i hayr", which in its dictionary sense means "a happy ending"; whether this is an intended play on words is not certain.)

4. O heart, if you ask me to describe that sweet-mouthed one, the rosebud, the almond, sugar and the pistachio are his slaves. (In divan poetry the rosebud and the pistachio are likened to a small mouth, the almond to the eye, and sugar to sweet lips and speech.)

5. Whoever has wiped the image of others from the tablet of the heart attains, like Münîr, the manifestation of his beauty. ("Levḥ-i ḫāṭır", in its dictionary sense, means the tablet of the heart, the board of the mind on which things are written.)

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 thirtieth of the Persian ghazals (fg 30). The metre is "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The refrain (redif) is the suffix "est"; in Ersoy's list of refrains this ghazal appears among those with the refrain "est". The rhyme is the sound "-este": nev-reste, gül-deste, ceste, dil-ḫaste, piste, şüste. The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 68b) and Vienna (VY 52b) manuscripts. To whom and when it was written is not known; nor do the sources explain to whom the name "Hayrî" mentioned in the third couplet belongs.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet praises the beloved through the image of the rose. He is a newly opened rose; among the moon-faced beauties he is like a whole bouquet of roses by himself. That a single rose is counted worth a whole bouquet is the substance of the hyperbole. The succession of the words "gül-endām", "gül" and "gül-deste" gives the couplet a cadence of repetition, and the rhymes "nev-reste" (newly grown) and "gül-deste" strengthen it. In the second couplet there is an image of the hunt. The curls of the lock are a snare and the mole the grain laid in the snare; the heart is a bird caught in this snare. The words dām (snare), dāne (grain) and murġ (bird) form a congruence of images (tenasüp).

The third couplet is the most remarkable in the ghazal. In Ersoy's reading, because of someone famous in the city under the name "Hayrî", every quarter is full of lovers with wounded hearts. The appearance of a proper name other than the pen name within the ghazal is striking; the couplet may therefore point to a particular person. The sources, however, give no information on who Hayrî was or which city is meant by "our city". When the words are read in their dictionary senses, "âkıbet" and "hayr" side by side also recall the phrase "a happy ending"; given Münîrî's fondness for paronomasia (cinas), it is possible that the couplet carries such a second meaning, but it is not certain.

In the fourth couplet the sweet-mouthed beloved is described through small, sweet things: the rosebud, the almond, sugar and the pistachio are his slaves. There is a congruence of images between the epithet "şīrīn-dehen" (sweet-mouthed) and these foods; each is an object that divan poetry likens to the mouth, the eye or the lips. The pen-name couplet (mahlas) carries a mystical colouring. Whoever wipes other images from the tablet of the heart attains the manifestation of the beloved's beauty. The words tablet, image and wiping build an image of writing, while the word "tecellī" (manifestation) brings in the idea of purifying the heart. Ersoy says that Münîrî, though not a mystical poet, used mystical symbols under the influence of Hâfız.

Bibliography

Online sources