Original Persian Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün

Ān şem‘-i tecellī ki be-dil kūşe-nişīnest
Yek mihr-i ḳamer-ṭal‘at u yek Zühre-cebīnest
Dīl rāh-ı selāmet ne-bered rūḥ u revān nīz
Z’ān ġamze-i cādū ki be-mā der-ser-i kīnest
Ber-la‘l-i to dil rūḥ-ı revān goft u revān nīz
Ber-cān-ı men-i ḫaste çi gūyī süḫan īnest
Dil bord zi-men zülf-i to ber-dest-dırāzī
Eknūn be-hezārān dil ü cān der-pey-i dīnest
Z’ān çeşm-i çerāġam ki münīrest Münīrī
Mihr-i ruḫ-ı ū rūşenī-i rūy-ı zemīnest

In English

1. That candle of divine manifestation which sits withdrawn in a corner of the heart is a moon-faced sun, a beauty with the brow of Venus. ("Zühre" is the planet Venus, known for its brightness. Ersoy renders it as "a sun of moon-like nature, with a brow bright as Venus".)

2. Because of that sorcerer of a sidelong glance which bears us malice, neither the heart nor the spirit and soul can keep to the road of safety. ("Ġamze", in its dictionary sense, is a glance from the corner of the eye, a signal of the eye; "cādū" means sorcerer. Ersoy says "because of the signals of brow and eye it cannot go on the right path".)

3. The heart called your ruby lip "the flowing spirit", and the soul said so too; what do you say of the soul of sick me, this is the word. (The couplet is hard to understand and can be read in two ways. Ersoy reads it as "The heart said of your ruby lips, 'it is the peace of the soul'; and the spirit said, 'what do you say to my sick heart, this is the word'". "Revān", in its dictionary sense, means both spirit, soul and flowing, running; it occurs twice in the line.)

4. Your lock, reaching out its hand, took my heart from me; now thousands of hearts and souls are in pursuit of faith. ("Dest-dırāzī", in its dictionary sense, means stretching out the hand, that is, assault and oppression; "dırāz" means long and also recalls the length of the lock.)

5. O Münîrî, the lamp of my eye is bright because the sun of his cheek is the light of the face of the earth. ("Münīr", in its dictionary sense, means bright, luminous; there is a play on words between the pen name and the word "münīrest". Ersoy reads it as "Because his sun-like cheek is the cause of the earth's light, the lamp of my eye shines".)

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 thirty-third of the Persian ghazals (fg 33). The metre is "mef‘ûlü mefâ‘îlü mefâ‘îlü fe‘ûlün". 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 "-īn": kūşe-nişīn, cebīn, kīn, īn, dīn, zemīn. The poem is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 69b). To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal opens and closes with the image of light. In the opening couplet the beloved is a candle of divine manifestation withdrawn into a corner of the heart; a moon-faced sun, a beauty with the brow of Venus. The words candle, sun, moon and Venus form a congruence of images (tenasüp) built on the heavenly bodies and light. The phrase "kūşe-nişīn" is notable: in its dictionary sense it means one who withdraws into a corner, into seclusion. The candle burns in a corner of the heart, but this burning is quiet, like a dervish's retreat. The word "tecellī" (manifestation) gives the couplet a mystical colouring.

In the second couplet the beloved's sidelong glance is a sorcerer and bears the lover malice; because of this glance the heart, spirit and soul cannot find the road of safety. There is a contrast (tezat) between "rāh-ı selāmet" (the road of safety) and "kīn" (malice). The third couplet is the most obscure of the ghazal. The word "revān" occurs twice in the same line: once in the phrase "rūḥ-ı revān", the flowing spirit, and once in the sense of soul. This repetition is an example of Münîrî's fondness for paronomasia (cinas), but the full sense of the couplet is not clear; Ersoy's reading builds a scene in which the heart and the spirit speak about the beloved's lip.

In the fourth couplet the lock is an oppressor that stretches out its hand and seizes the heart. The phrase "dest-dırāzī" means assault and, through the word "dırāz", also recalls the length of the lock; this is a subtlety of double entendre (tevriye). In the second line the thousands of hearts and souls carried off by the lock go in pursuit of faith. In divan poetry the lock, for its blackness, is likened to unbelief; the hearts stolen by the lock seeking faith may be considered together with this contrast. In the pen-name couplet (mahlas) the image of light returns. The pen name "Münīrī" and the word "münīrest" (is bright) stand side by side; this play on the poet's name and the sense of brightness is the real wit of the couplet. The beloved's cheek is the sun that lights the earth, and the lamp of the poet's eye shines from that sun. The candle of manifestation in the opening and the sun of the cheek at the close set the ghazal within a frame of light.

Bibliography

Online sources