Original Persian Text

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

Derīn cihān ki cüz-ū nīst mültemes mā-rā
‘Aceb çirā ne-koned yād yek nefes mā-rā
Esīr-i zülf-i siyāh-ı to būd ṭūṭī-i dil
Berā-yı ān buved īn āhenīn ḳafes mā-rā
Mis̱āl-i ḫāl-i leb-i la‘l-i to besest āḫir
Zi-ḥüsn-i ḫᵛān-ı Ḫalīl-i to yek ‘ades mā-rā
Zi-behr-i mūy-ı miyānet çonān ża‘īf şodem
Ki nīst ṭāḳat-ı ḍarb-ı per-i mekes mā-rā
Hevā-yı zülf-i siyāhet ki der-serem üftād
Güẕeşt ‘ömr ü ne-şod āḫir īn heves mā-rā
Münīr ez-āteş-i ‘aşḳ-ı to būd ḫākister
Demī ez-ān ki resīde’st yek ḳabes mā-rā

In English

1. Though in this world we have no wish but him, it is strange that he does not remember us even for the space of a breath. ("Mültemes", in its dictionary sense, means a thing asked for, requested.)

2. The parrot of the heart was the captive of your black locks; it is for this that this iron cage was given to us. (The couplet is not entirely clear. Ersoy understands the second line as "for this reason this iron cage became ours alone". The black locks are thought of here as a bond that holds the heart captive.)

3. As a likeness of the mole on your ruby lip, a single lentil from the beauty of your table, like that of Halil, that is, of Abraham, is enough for us. ("‘Ades", in its dictionary sense, is the lentil. "Ḫalīl", in its dictionary sense, means "friend" and is the epithet of Abraham; Ersoy connects the couplet with the lentil on Abraham's table. The small dark mole on the lip is likened to a lentil.)

4. For the sake of your hair-thin waist I have grown so weak that I have no strength left to withstand the beat of a fly's wing. (Ersoy understands it as "I have no more strength left than the flutter of a fly's wing"; both readings say that the lover has grown utterly weak.)

5. Since passion for your black locks fell into my head a lifetime has passed, yet this desire of mine was never fulfilled.

6. Münîr had turned to ash from the fire of your love; that is because for a moment a spark of that fire reached us. ("Ḳabes", in its dictionary sense, means an ember or flame taken from a fire. Ersoy understands the couplet as "since a spark reached him for a moment from that beloved, Münîr has burned with love and turned to ash".)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a six-couplet ghazal (gazel) written in Persian; in the edition it is the sixth of the Persian ghazals (fg 6). The metre, as in the preceding ghazal, is "mefâ‘ilün fe‘ilâtün mefâ‘ilün fe‘ilün". The refrain (redif) is "mā-rā", "us, to us"; the rhyme is the sound "-es": nefes, ḳafes, ‘ades, mekes, heves, ḳabes. In Ersoy's list of refrains this ghazal is shown with the redif "mā-rā"; as to rhyme it is counted among the examples of rhyme built on the rhyme letter alone. The poem is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 62b). According to Ersoy, the Vatican manuscript is the fullest and best-ordered copy of the divan, and the order of the edited text follows it; some Persian ghazals, like this one, are known only thanks to this manuscript. The preceding ghazal is written in the same metre too, and in both, the redif turns to the speaker, "merā" in that one and "mā-rā" in this. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The subject of the ghazal is the lover's wasting away before the beloved's indifference. In the first couplet the lover wonders that, though he has no wish in the world but the beloved, the beloved does not remember him even for a moment. The following couplets describe through various images how this indifference consumes the lover: the heart, like a parrot, has become the captive of the locks and fallen into a cage; the lover has grown so weak for the sake of the slender waist that he cannot withstand the beat of a fly's wing; his life has passed in a single passion; and at last he has turned to ash in the fire of love. Most of the words that carry the rhyme are small and light things: a breath, a lentil, a fly, a spark. These words convey the lover's smallness and how little favour he expects from the beloved.

The third couplet is the most delicate point of the ghazal. The beloved's lip is likened to Abraham's table, and from this table the lover asks only for a single lentil, that is, a favour no larger than the mole on the lip. There is both an allusion and a simile here; likening the mole to a lentil describes the beloved's beauty and at the same time expresses the lover's contentment with little. The hyperbole of weakness in the fourth couplet draws a link between the beloved's hair-thin waist and the lover wasting away to a hair. In the fifth couplet there is a closeness of sound between the words "hevā" and "heves". In the sixth couplet the words "āteş", "ḫākister" and "ḳabes" stand in congruence of images (tenasüp): a single spark has been enough to turn the lover wholly to ash. In the sixth couplet the word for love is written "‘aşḳ" in the edition.

Bibliography

Online sources