Original Persian Text

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

Ez-fitne-i çeşm-i to ḥaẕer mī-koned āfet
Ber-tīr-i ḫadeng-i to ḳażā gerded iżāfet
Dil der-pey-i ḫūn-ı ciger ü bāde-i eşkest
Dāred be-ḫayāl-i to meger fikr-i żiyāfet
Der-bend-i ser-i zülf-i to dilhā ki giriftest
Mānend-i ‘alāyim şode der-cāy-ı meḫāfet
Keşşāf u Hidāye ki raḳīb-i to be-ḫᵛāned
Ber-ṭab‘-ı kec-i ū ne-füted baḫt-ı ẓerāfet
Der-seyr ü sülūk-i reh-i ‘ışḳ-ı to Münīrī
Çün ḥażret-i Cibrīl koned ḳaṭ‘-ı mesāfet

In English

1. Even calamity takes care to avoid the mischief of your eye; the decree of fate is attached to, laid upon, the arrow of your glance. ("Āfet", in its dictionary sense, means calamity, misfortune, and in the language of divan poetry it is also used for a person of overwhelming beauty. Ersoy understands this word as "gazelle". "İżāfet", in its dictionary sense, is attaching or ascribing one thing to another. The Vatican manuscript has "kerd" instead of "gerded".)

2. The heart goes after the blood of the liver and the wine-like tears; it seems it means to lay on a feast for your image. (The couplet can be read in two ways: the heart prepares the blood of the liver and the tears as a table for the beloved's image; or, as Ersoy understands it, the beloved's image has only the thought of a feast in mind, and that feast is the lover's blood.)

3. The hearts caught in the knot at the tip of your tresses have become like the signs of fearful places. (According to Ersoy, just as fearful places have their signs, so the captivity of hearts in the tresses is the beloved's sign. "Meḫāfet", in its dictionary sense, means fear, a place to be feared.)

4. Though your rival should read both the Kashshaf and the Hidaya, the good fortune of refinement does not fall to his crooked nature. (The Kashshaf is Zamakhshari's commentary on the Qur'an; the Hidaya is Marghinani's book of Hanafi law; both are well-known works taught in the madrasas.)

5. Münîrî, travelling the spiritual path of your love, crosses distances in an instant like the angel Gabriel. ("Seyr ü sülûk" in Sufism is the disciple's progress along the spiritual path.)

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-seventh of the Persian ghazals (fg 37). The metre is "mef‘ûlü mefâ‘îlü mefâ‘îlü fe‘ûlün". The ghazal has no refrain (redif); it does not appear in Ersoy's list of refrains either. The rhyme is the sound "-āfet": āfet, iżāfet, żiyāfet, meḫāfet, ẓerāfet, mesāfet. All the rhyme words are of Arabic origin, and their succession in a Persian ghazal gives the poem a learned colouring. The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 70b) and Vienna (VY 53b) manuscripts. According to Ersoy's apparatus the only difference between the two manuscripts lies in one word of the first couplet: the Vatican manuscript reads "kerd" instead of "gerded". To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet presents the beloved's eye as a source of calamity. That even calamity avoids the eye's mischief is hyperbole; in the second line the decree of fate is "attached" (izafe) to the arrow of the glance. The word "iżāfet" is at the same time the name of the noun compound in Arabic and Persian grammar; the bond drawn in the couplet between "arrow" and "fate" allows this grammatical term to be recalled as well. Ersoy's understanding of "āfet" as gazelle may stem from the constant comparison in divan poetry of the gazelle's eye with the beloved's eye; but the dictionary meaning of the word is calamity, and the couplet is consistent with this meaning too.

In the second couplet the blood of the liver and the tears take the place of wine; the lover lays a table of his own blood for the beloved's image. The words blood, tears, wine and feast form a congruence of images (tenasüp). In the third couplet the knot of the tresses is like a snare in which hearts are held captive; these captive hearts are likened to the signs of fearful places. The fourth couplet mocks the rival through madrasa learning. The Kashshaf and the Hidaya are among the most widely read books of Qur'anic commentary and law; though the rival reads them, the crookedness of his nature is not compatible with refinement. This is a subtle satire saying that learning alone does not bestow refinement. When one considers that Latîfî describes Münîrî as a poet of great learning, the ease with which the poet brings madrasa books into his poetry is noteworthy.

In the pen-name couplet (mahlas) the path of love is named with the Sufi term "seyr ü sülûk". On this path Münîrî crosses distances like Gabriel; the angel's coming and going between heaven and earth in an instant becomes a comparison for the lover's speed on the path of love. The ghazal thus begins from the danger of the eye and the tresses, moves to the comparison of learning and love, and arrives from there at the image of a mystical journey.

Bibliography

Online sources