Original Persian Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün

Ān kes ki raḫt-ı hestī-i ḫod ber-fenā keşed
Ser der-miyān-ı milket-i ehl-i beḳā keşed
Ez-zülf-i ser-keş-i to ki dil der-keş-ā-keşest
Dāned Ḫudā vü men ki dil ez-vey çihā keşed
Rāh-ı ‘adem ki dil be-vücūd-ı lebet girift
Āḫir ne-dānemeş ki merā ū kocā keşed
Her dil ki ez-küdūret-i hestī ḫalāṣ yāft
Der-bezm-i nīstī mey-i ṣāf-ı ṣafā keşed
Bārī zi-bār-ı devr-i zamān çün keşed Münīr
Cüz bār-ı minnet-i ġam-ı ‘ışḳet çirā keşed

In English

1. Whoever draws the baggage of his own being into nonexistence draws his head into the midst of the land of the people of permanence. ("Raḫt", in its dictionary sense, means goods, baggage; "fenā" nonexistence, "beḳā" permanence, immortality. Ersoy understands it as "whoever slips out of the garment of his own being".)

2. The heart is in a tug of war because of your unruly tresses; what the heart suffers from them only God knows, and I. ("Ser-keş", in its dictionary sense, means unruly, "keş-ā-keş" a tugging, a turmoil; in the couplet words from the root of "to draw" follow one another.)

3. The heart took the road of nonexistence to reach the being of your lip; I do not know where it will draw me in the end.

4. Every heart that has escaped the turbidity of being drinks the pure wine of delight in the gathering of nonexistence. ("Keşed" here, in its dictionary sense, means to drink, to draw a cup.)

5. Since Münîr bears the burden of the turning of time, why should he bear any other than the burden of gratitude for the grief of your love. ("Bārī", in its dictionary sense, means "at least, since" and creates a sound echo with the word "bār", burden.)

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-ninth of the Persian ghazals (fg 59). The metre is "mef‘ûlü fâ‘ilâtü mefâ‘îlü fâ‘ilün". The refrain (redif) is the verb "keşed" (draws); in Ersoy's list of refrains the ghazal is given with this refrain. The rhyme is the sound "-ā": fenā, beḳā, çihā, kocā, ṣafā, çirā. The poem is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 75b). To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal uses the verb "to draw" in its refrain with a different meaning in every couplet, and the whole poem is built on the many senses of this verb. In the opening couplet baggage is drawn into nonexistence and the head is drawn into the land of permanence; the second couplet concerns the suffering the heart endures (literally "draws"); in the third the road draws the lover somewhere; in the fourth wine is drawn, that is, drunk; and in the pen-name couplet (mahlas) a burden is borne. The circulation of the same refrain through the senses of carrying, being dragged, enduring and drinking gives the ghazal a unity woven of wordplay.

The opening couplet and the fourth couplet speak in the terms of Sufism. Fenâ and bekâ, nonexistence and permanence, are two concepts in Sufism describing the servant's passing away from his own being and attaining permanence in God. The poet says that whoever carries the burden of his own being into nonexistence mingles among the people of permanence; there is a contrast between the two concepts. In the fourth couplet being is a turbidity, and nonexistence a gathering; the wine drunk in this gathering is pure and joyful. Two separate contrasts are drawn, between "küdūret" (turbidity) and "ṣāf" (clear), and between "hestī" (being) and "nīstī" (nonexistence). As Ersoy also notes, Münîrî is not a Sufi poet, but under the influence of Hâfız he uses Sufi symbols; this ghazal is a clear example of that tendency.

The second couplet stands out for the repetition of the sound "keş": ser-keş, keş-ā-keş and keşed in the refrain come from the same root; this is an example of derivation-based wordplay (iştikak). The unruly tresses tugging at the heart create a link between the curls of the tresses and the turmoil of the heart. In the third couplet the road of nonexistence and the being of the lip face each other; the words being and nonexistence form a contrast. In the pen-name couplet the sound echo between "bārī" and "bār" and the double repetition of "bār" lend the couplet harmony. The poet says that he already carries the burden of time and will therefore accept no burden other than gratitude for the grief of love. Ersoy understands the couplet in the same way.

Bibliography

Online sources