Original Persian Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün

Zi-vaṣf-ı sünbül-i zülfet ki ber-gird-i semen pīçed
Zebān-ı men zi-‘acz-i ḫod be-her dem derd-i men pīçed
Der-ān çāh-ı zeḳan īn dil ser-i zülf-i to mī-gīred
Esīr-i çāh-rā māned ki desteş der-resen pīçed
Be-nezd-i yār ‘arż-ı ḥāl-i ḫod goften ne-mī yārem
Be-pīş-i yār-ı ḫod her kes belī ender süḫan pīçed
Be-ḫāk-i rāh-ı ān çābük-süvār-ı Türk-i meh-peyker
Serem şod pāy-māl āḫir çirā ū ser zi-men pīçed
Be-gül-zār-ı viṣāl-i ḫod Münīrī-rā ki reh dādī
Raḳīb ez-reşk hemçün mār ez-ān ber-ḫīşten pīçed

In English

1. As I try to describe your hyacinth hair that curls around your jasmine-like face, my tongue, from its helplessness, gets tangled at every moment in my own pain. (The hyacinth is likened to black, curling hair, the jasmine to the white face. Ersoy understands it as "my tongue, from its helplessness, can never tell my pain".)

2. This heart, in that well of the dimple of your chin, holds the tip of your tresses; it is like a captive fallen into a well who winds his hand around the rope. ("Çāh-ı zeḳan", in its dictionary sense, is the well of the chin, that is, the dimple in the chin; "resen" means rope.)

3. I do not dare to set forth and tell my state in the beloved's presence; surely everyone twists and turns his words before his own beloved. ("Süḫan pīçīden", in its dictionary sense, is to twist one's words, to be unable to speak plainly; Ersoy says "he does not know what to say".)

4. On the dust of the road of that nimble horseman, the moon-faced Turkish beauty, my head has been trodden underfoot; why then does she turn her head away from me. ("Pāy-māl", in its dictionary sense, means trampled underfoot; "ser pīçīden" means to turn one's head away, to disobey. In divan poetry "Turk" is used for the beautiful and domineering beloved.)

5. When you gave Münîrî a way into the rose garden of union with you, the rival writhed upon himself like a snake from jealousy.

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 fiftieth of the Persian ghazals (fg 50). The metre is "mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün". The refrain (redif) is the verb "pīçed" (twists, winds, curls); in Ersoy's list of refrains this ghazal stands alone with the refrain "pīçed". The rhyme is the sound "-en": semen, men, resen, süḫan, men, ḫīşten. The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 73b) and Vienna (VY 58a) manuscripts. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The verb "pīçīden", which forms the refrain, carries the meanings of twisting, winding and curling, and this coiling movement shapes all the images of the ghazal. In the opening couplet the hair curls around the face, and the tongue gets tangled as it tries to describe this hair. In the second couplet the heart winds its hand around the rope, in the third the lover twists his words, in the fourth the beloved turns her head away, in the fifth the rival writhes like a snake. The verb's entering a different idiom in each couplet is an example of Münîrî's use of the refrain as a field for wordplay.

The opening couplet begins with a picture of colour and scent. The beloved's hair is hyacinth, her face jasmine; the black hyacinth curling around the white jasmine describes the hair framing the face. The tongue is not equal to describing this beauty, and the poet expresses his helplessness through the image of a tongue tangled like hair. The second couplet imagines the dimple of the chin as a well and the tresses as a rope. The captive who has fallen into a well clings to the rope to escape; the heart likewise clutches the tip of the tresses. The words well, rope and captive form a congruence of images (tenasüp); yet clinging to the tresses does not save the lover, it binds him more tightly. The likening of the dimple of the chin to a well is an image often used in divan poetry together with the story of Joseph.

The third couplet states the lover's speechlessness before the beloved as a general truth: everyone fails to gather his words before his beloved. In the fourth couplet a contrast is drawn between head and foot. The lover's head has been trodden underfoot on the dust of the beloved's road, yet the beloved still turns her head away from him; the phrases "pāy-māl" and "ser pīçīden" bring the words foot and head face to face. The naming of the beloved as a "nimble horseman" and a "Turk" brings forward her domineering and indifferent side. In the pen-name couplet (mahlas) the beloved opens to Münîrî the road to the garden of union, and the rival writhes like a snake from jealousy. As the lover enters the garden, the rival is left outside writhing like a snake; the joy of union and the writhing of jealousy are set face to face in the same couplet.

Bibliography

Online sources