Original Persian Text

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

Ger naṣīb-i ṣūfīyān şod bādem ü ḥelvā-yı ‘īd
Bes buved mā-rā şarāb u sāġar u ṣaḥbā-yı ‘īd
Ber-deret let ḫorden ez-der-bān-ı īn der ki merā
Bihterest ez-ḫorden-i bādām u ez-ḥelvā-yı ‘īd
Z’ān buved nāfiẕ be-menşūr-ı cihān aḥkām-ı ū
Şod zi-ḥükm ü yarlıġ-ı ebrūy-ı to ṭuġrā-yı ‘īd
Ger tecellī-i cemālet mī-koned ‘arż-ı diger
Mī-şeved ‘uşşāḳ-rā ‘īd-i diger ferdā-yı ‘īd
Ez-hilāl-i ebrūy-ı ṭāḳ-ı ḳamer-ruḫsār-ı men
Cüft-i devlet şod Münīrī māh-ı bezm-ārā-yı ‘īd

In English

1. If the almonds and halva of the feast have become the lot of the Sufis, wine, the cup and the wine of the feast are enough for us. ("Ṣaḥbā", in its dictionary sense, means wine with a reddish hue; in the couplet it is mentioned together with "şarāb".)

2. To be kicked at your door by the doorkeeper of this door is better for me than eating almonds and halva at the feast. ("Let", in its dictionary sense, means a kick, a blow; Ersoy understands it as "kicks and slaps". The verb "ḫorden", to eat, is used twice in the line: to take a kick and to eat almonds and halva.)

3. Because the tughra of the feast was drawn from the command and edict of your brows, its decrees are valid in the patent of the world. ("Menşūr" means an edict, a patent; "yarlıġ", in its dictionary sense, means a ruler's command and is a word of Turkic origin. The crescent-shaped brow is likened to the curved lines of the tughra, the sultan's calligraphic monogram.)

4. If your beauty is revealed once more, for lovers it will be a second feast on the day after the feast.

5. O Münîrî, after the crescent brow of my moon-cheeked beloved, the moon of the feast that adorns the gathering became the mate of good fortune. (The couplet can be read in two ways. Ersoy understands that the crescent of the feast became a second felicity after the crescent brows of the beloved. "Cüft-i devlet", in its dictionary sense, means the mate of fortune, of felicity; in this reading the crescent of the feast becomes the equal of felicity through the light it takes from the beloved's brow.)

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 fifty-seventh of the Persian ghazals (fg 57). The metre is "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The refrain (redif) is the word "‘īd", that is, feast or holiday; in Ersoy's list of refrains the ghazal is given with the refrain "-yı ‘īd". The rhyme is the sound "-ā": ḥelvā, ṣaḥbā, ṭuġrā, ferdā, ārā; "ḥelvā" is repeated in the rhyme of the first and second couplets. The poem is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 75a). To whom and when it was written is not known.

Fg 58, which comes immediately after this ghazal in the divan, is also written with the refrain "‘īd", and the two stand side by side like a pair of feast poems. According to Ersoy's list of refrains, the refrain "feast" is also used in the divan in one kaside (qasida) and one Turkish ghazal (tg 38).

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The main theme of the ghazal is the feast lived through the presence of the beloved. The opening couplet rests on the familiar opposition between the libertine (rind) and the Sufi. The Sufi's share of the feast is almonds and halva; the libertine's share is wine and the cup. A contrast is set up between the sweets of the first line and the wine of the second, and the poet openly places himself in the ranks of the libertines. The second couplet carries this opposition into the language of the lover: a kick received from the doorkeeper at the beloved's door is sweeter than the almonds and halva of the feast table. The use of the verb "ḫorden" in the same line both for taking a kick and for eating sweets gives the couplet a witty tone.

The third couplet is built with words taken from the language of the palace and the chancery. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among edict, yarlığ and tughra. The beloved's crescent-shaped brow is like a tughra; because the tughra of the feast was drawn at the command of this brow, its decree runs throughout the world. The resemblance between the curved tughra drawn at the head of a ruler's edict and the crescent brow is the couplet's chief simile. The appearance of the word "yarlıġ" in a Persian ghazal is noteworthy; according to the dictionaries the word is of Turkic origin and entered Persian in the sense of a ruler's command.

In the fourth couplet the idea of the feast is widened: every new appearance of the beloved's beauty is a new feast coming on the day after the feast. The word "tecellī" (manifestation) also carries a Sufi association. The pen-name couplet (mahlas) closes with the image of the crescent. The feast begins with the sighting of the crescent moon; the poet, however, mentions the beloved's crescent brow before the moon of the feast. There is a congruence of images among crescent, brow, moon and gathering. The couplet says, as Ersoy reads it, that the moon of the feast is a second felicity after the beloved's brow; the word "cüft", mate or pair, also suggests that brow and crescent stand side by side like two mates.

Bibliography

Online sources