Original Persian Text

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

Kesī ki der-reh-i mihr-i ruḫet türāb şeved
Zi-ḫāk-i vey heme ẕerrāt āftāb şeved
Çirā be-pīr-i muġān bende-i kemīn ne-şevem
Çonīn zi-mey-gede mā-rā ki fetḥ-i bāb şeved
Ġulām-ı bāde-fürūşīm der-cihān mā-rā
Zi-cām-ı bāde-i ṣāfī key ictināb şeved
Zi-la‘l-i çeşme-i nūşet ki mī-şevem sīr-āb
‘Aceb ne āb-ı Ḫıżır ger be-men serāb şeved
Meger Münīr to-rā yād mī-koned ān dem
Ki ū ber-ā-ber-i ḫāk-i siyeh türāb şeved

In English

1. For whoever becomes dust on the path of the sun of your cheek, every mote of his dust becomes a sun. ("Mihr", in its dictionary sense, means both sun and love; it can also be read as "on the path of love for your cheek".)

2. When such a door is opened to us from the tavern, why should I not become the lowliest slave of the elder of the Magi. ("Pīr-i muġān", in its dictionary sense, is the elder of the Magi, the tavern keeper; in divan poetry it is also used in the sense of a spiritual guide. "Fetḥ-i bāb" means the opening of a door.)

3. In this world we are the slaves of the wine seller; how could it befit us to shun the cup full of pure wine. (Ersoy understands the first line as "in this world we are slaves who sell wine".)

4. Since I drink my fill from the spring of your ruby lip, is it any wonder if the water of Khidr seems a mirage to me. (The water of life found by Khidr (Hızır) is the water of immortality; before the beloved's lip even that water remains a mirage.)

5. It seems that Münîr remembers you at the very moment he becomes one with the black earth and turns to dust. (Ersoy understands the couplet as "Münîr was remembering you even when he mingled with the black earth".)

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 sixty-fifth of the Persian ghazals (fg 65). The metre is "mefâ‘ilün fe‘ilâtün mefâ‘ilün fe‘ilün". The refrain (redif) is the verb "şeved" (becomes); in Ersoy's list of refrains the ghazal is given with this refrain. The rhyme is the sound "-āb": türāb, āftāb, bāb, ictināb, serāb, türāb. Ersoy counts this ghazal among his examples of kafiye-i müreddefe (rhyme preceded by a long vowel). The rhyme "türāb" (dust) is repeated with the same meaning in the first and fifth couplets. The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 77a) and Vienna (VY 60b) manuscripts. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal begins with becoming dust and ends with becoming dust. In the opening couplet every mote of the lover who has become dust on the path of the beloved's sun-like cheek turns into a sun. The contrast between mote and sun shows that love abolishes the distance between the smallest and the greatest; the shining of motes in sunlight also gives this comparison a visual basis. That the word "mihr" means both sun and love opens the meaning of the couplet in two: the lover has become dust both on the path of the sun of the beloved's cheek and on the path of love for him.

The second and third couplets speak in a libertine language. The opening of a door from the tavern is expressed with the phrase "fetḥ-i bāb"; the phrase calls up both the opening of a door and the opening of the way for some affair. The poet wishes to be the lowliest slave of the elder of the Magi, says that he is the slave of the wine seller, and states that shunning pure wine would not befit him. As Ersoy notes in his introduction, Münîrî describes himself as a wine-drinking libertine (rind); there is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among elder of the Magi, tavern, wine seller and cup. The use of the phrase "pīr-i muġān" in divan poetry in the sense of a spiritual guide also leaves open a Sufi reading of these couplets.

In the fourth couplet the beloved's lip is likened to a spring, and the lover has drunk his fill from it. For this reason even Khidr's water of immortality seems to him a mirage. There is a contrast between the water of life and the mirage, and a congruence of images among spring, water, drinking one's fill and mirage. Water that truly quenches thirst is set against the mirage that deceives thirst, and the beloved's lip is raised above even the water of immortality. The pen-name couplet (mahlas) returns to the opening couplet. Münîr will remember the beloved at the moment he becomes one with the black earth; if the turning of the motes into suns in the opening couplet is kept in mind, this remembering at the moment of death is what will light up the lover's dust. Ersoy understands the couplet as saying that Münîr remembers the beloved even when he has mingled with the earth.

Bibliography

Online sources