Original Persian Text

Metre: mefā‘ilün fe‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fe‘ilün

Be-ders-i ‘ışḳ-ı to ān kes ki der-mücādeleest
Zi-cehl-i ḫod ne-şināsed ki īn çi mes’eleest
Zi-şevḳ-ı dīden-i ‘aks-i cemālet ez-her sū
Be-ṭavf-ı Ka‘be-i kūyet hezār ḳāfileest
Be-‘ilm-i ‘ışḳ-ı to meşġūl mī-şevem z’īn bes
Zi-ḳīl ü ḳāl-i cihān bu’gẕerem çi meşġaleest
Be-ḫāk-i pāyeş eger naḳd-i cān hemī dādem
Hezār sūd-ı men ey dil derīn mu‘āmeleest
Miyān-ı meclis-i rindān çerāġ ḥācet nīst
Fürūġ-ı āh-ı Münīr īnçonīn ki meş‘aleest

In English

1. Whoever enters into disputation in the lesson of your love does not know, out of his own ignorance, what a hard question this is. ("Mücādele" here has the sense of disputation, formal debate, in the language of the madrasa; Ersoy, too, says "one who debates".)

2. In the longing to see the reflection of your face's beauty, a thousand caravans come from every side to circle the Kaaba of your street.

3. From now on I shall busy myself with the science of your love; I shall give up the gossip of the world, for what an (empty) occupation it is. (The couplet can be read in two ways: if "z'īn bes" is taken as "from now on", the poet says he will occupy himself only with the science of love; if taken as "this is enough", then, as Ersoy understands it, being occupied with the science of love is enough to give up the gossip of the world. "Ḳīl ü ḳāl", in its dictionary sense, means gossip, idle talk.)

4. If I give the capital of my life to the dust of her feet, O heart, there is a thousandfold profit for me in this bargain. ("Naḳd", in its dictionary sense, means ready money, capital; "sūd" profit; "mu‘āmele" a bargain, a transaction.)

5. In the midst of the gathering of the libertines (rind) there is no need for a lamp; the radiance of Münîr's sigh is just such a torch.

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-eighth of the Persian ghazals (fg 38). The metre is "mefâ‘ilün fe‘ilâtün mefâ‘ilün fe‘ilün". In his list of refrains Ersoy places this ghazal among those with the refrain (redif) "est". The rhyme is the sound "-ele", and all the rhyme words are Arabic: mücādele, mes'ele, ḳāfile, meşġale, mu‘āmele, meş‘ale. The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 70b) and Vienna (VY 54a) manuscripts. No manuscript variants are recorded for this ghazal in Ersoy's apparatus. With the suffix "est" added to the rhyme words, every couplet ends in a long, repeated cluster of sound such as "-eleest". To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal treats love as a science and describes it in the language of the madrasa. In the first couplet the words lesson, disputation and question stand side by side; whoever sets out to dispute in the lesson of love is ignorant, for he cannot grasp the difficulty of the question. The same thought continues in the third couplet: the poet will busy himself with "the science of love" and leave the "kîl ü kâl" of the world. The question of love is set against the questions disputed in the madrasa, and the words lesson, disputation, question, science and occupation form a congruence of images (tenasüp). That a poet named "Münîrî-i Kâdî" (Münîrî the judge) in an anthology of response poems should praise love in the language of learning forms the witty side of the ghazal.

In the second couplet the beloved's street is likened to the Kaaba, and the lovers who come there to pilgrim caravans. The words circling, Kaaba and caravan are bound together by their connection with the pilgrimage. In the fourth couplet the language turns to trade: life is a capital, and when it is given to the dust of the beloved's feet a thousandfold profit comes of the bargain. The contrast between giving one's life and gaining expresses in commercial terms the familiar idea of divan poetry that to die for the beloved is a gain. In this couplet the address shifts from "you" to "she", and the poet speaks to his heart; the ghazal moves back and forth between direct address to the beloved and speaking of the beloved in the third person.

The pen-name couplet (mahlas) closes with an image of light. In the gathering of the libertines there is no need for a lamp, for Münîr's sigh shines like a torch. That the sigh is fiery, rising from the burning within the lover, is among the established ideas of divan poetry; here that burning turns into a light that illuminates the gathering. The words lamp, radiance and torch form a congruence of images among themselves. The rhymes of the ghazal are thus spread over four separate fields, with words taken from learning (mücādele, mes'ele, meşġale), pilgrimage (ḳāfile), trade (mu‘āmele) and light (meş‘ale).

Bibliography

Online sources