Original Persian Text

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

Eşkem ez-ḥasret-i ḳadd-i to revānest ki būd
Bī-to kār-ı dil-i men āh u fiġānest ki būd
Cān-ı şīrīn be-leb āmed zi-ġam-ı hicr henūz
Dīde der-dīden-i rūyet nigerānest ki būd
Ger zenem lāf-ı ġulāmī-i to cānā çi ‘aceb
Dāġ-ı ‘ışḳet be-dil-i bende nişānest ki būd
Sālhā şod ki ḫarābest çonīn kişver-i dil
Hem-çonān ḥükm-i ḫayāl-i to revānest ki būd
Ġalib ez-ẓulm-i sitem-kārī-i çeşm-i to be-dil
Ḫaṭ-ı jengār-ı ḫadet ḫaṭṭ-ı emānest ki būd
Ḫāk şod gerçi be-mihr-i meh-i rūy-ı to Münīr
Der-dileş ġuṣsa-i ‘ışḳ-ı to hemānest ki būd

In English

1. From longing for your stature my tears flow as they did before; without you the business of my heart is sighs and laments, as it was before. ("Ki būd" in the refrain, in its dictionary sense, means "as it was, as before".)

2. While my sweet soul has only just come to my lips from the grief of separation, my eye keeps watching, as before, to see your face. (For the soul to come to the lips means to be on the point of death.)

3. O beloved, if I boast of being your slave, it is no wonder; the brand of your love is a mark on the heart of this servant, as it was before. ("Dāġ", in its dictionary sense, means the scar of branding, a brand; slaves were once marked with a brand.)

4. The land of the heart has been laid waste like this for years; the rule of your image is in force there, as it was before. ("Revān" here, in its dictionary sense, means valid, in force.)

5. Perhaps, against the tyranny and cruelty of your eye, the verdigris-green down on your cheek is for the heart a writ of safe-conduct, as it was before. ("Ḫaṭ" means both the down appearing on the cheek and writing; "ḫaṭṭ-ı emān" is a writ of quarter, a guarantee of safety. "Jengār", in its dictionary sense, is the green colour of copper rust.)

6. Though Münîr has become dust through love of your moon-face, the sorrow of your love in his heart is the same as it was. (The meaning of this couplet is not given in the edition; the couplet is in Persian, and the rendering rests on the text here. "Mihr", in its dictionary sense, means both love and sun.)

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 sixty-fourth of the Persian ghazals (fg 64). The metre is "fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilün". The refrain (redif) is the phrase "-est ki būd" (is as it was before); in Ersoy's list of refrains the ghazal is given with the refrain "ki būd". The rhyme is the sound "-ān": revān, fiġān, nigerān, nişān, revān, emān, hemān. The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 76b) and Vienna (VY 60a) manuscripts. To whom and when it was written is not known.

In his apparatus Ersoy gives the meaning of the first five couplets of this ghazal; there is no meaning for the sixth. In the edition the mark of the meaning footnote for the fifth couplet was printed by mistake beside the sixth couplet. The sixth couplet is also in Persian; the rendering above rests directly on the text.

Ersoy counts this ghazal among the seventeen Persian ghazals that are response poems (nazire) to Hâfız of Shiraz and gives its counterpart as page 99 of the 1290 (1873-74) Istanbul printing of Hâfız's Divan; the TDV article also records that seventeen Persian ghazals are response poems to Hâfız. The ghazal of Hâfız in the same metre, rhyme and refrain begins with the opening couplet "Gevher-i maḫzen-i esrār hemānest ki būd / Ḥoḳḳa-i mihr bedān mühr ü nişānest ki būd" (The pearl of the treasury of secrets is what it was before; the casket of love is still with that same seal and that same mark). Münîrî's rhymes nişān, nigerān, revān and hemān also occur in Hâfız's ghazal.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The main theme of the ghazal is that love does not change at all despite the passing of time. The "ki būd" (as it was before) of the refrain confirms this continuity anew in every couplet. In Hâfız's ghazal, too, what does not change is the secret of love, the lover's tears and the beloved's tresses; with the same refrain Münîrî lists the flowing of the tears, the gaze of the eye, the brand of love and the ruin of the land of the heart. In the opening couplet a link is drawn between the beloved's stature and the tears. The stature sways like a cypress, and the tears flow like water; the word "revān" calls up both movements together.

In the fourth couplet the rhyme "revān" is used again, but this time in the sense of valid, in force. In the first couplet there are flowing tears, in the fourth a decree in force; the use of the same word in the rhyme with two different meanings forms a pun (cinas). The fourth couplet rests on the comparison of a country: the heart has for years been a ruined land, and there the image of the beloved holds sway like a ruler. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among country, rule and ruin.

The third and fifth couplets are built in the language of the palace and of slavery. The lover boasts of being the beloved's slave, for the brand of love stands like a mark on his heart. In the fifth couplet the word "ḫaṭ" is used as a double entendre (tevriye): the down that appears on the cheek is at the same time a piece of writing, and this writing is a writ of safe-conduct given to the heart against the beloved's tyrannical eye. There is a contrast between the tyranny of the eye and the safety granted by the down. In the pen-name couplet (mahlas) the lover has died and become dust, but the sorrow of love in his heart has not changed. There is a congruence of images between the words "mihr" (love, sun) and "meh" (moon). The sorrow that not even death can change carries the idea of continuity borne by the refrain to its furthest point at the end of the ghazal.

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