Original Persian Text

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

Ḫaṭṭ-ı emān ki ḫadd-i to dāred be-her ṭaraf
Gerded dilem zi-fitne-i zülf-i to ber-ṭaraf
Ger ez-ḫayāl-i la‘l-i lebet be’gẕered demī
Āyed zi-seng-i ḥādis̱e dil-rā zi-her ṭaraf
Dil sūy-ı Ka‘be-i ser-i kūyet revāne şod
Ān dem be-īn cihān ki ne-şod der-ḫaber ṭaraf
K’ū ān zamān ki dil-ber-i şūḫem zi-rūy-ı nāz
Bā-men ḥadīs̱ dāşt naẓar der-diger ṭaraf
Zāhid be-sūy-ı mey-gede z’ān-rū ne-mī-reved
Hergiz ne-mī-tevān ki reved bī-baṣar ṭaraf
Āşüftegī çonīn ne-şeved ber-dilem Münīr
Zülf-i siyāh-ı ū ne-keşīde’st ger ṭaraf

In English

1. Since your cheek bears a writ of safety on every side, my heart stays far from the mischief of your curls. ("Ḫaṭṭ", in its dictionary sense, means both writing and the down on the cheek; Ersoy too writes "down on the cheek" in parentheses beside the word "pusula" (a written note).)

2. If a moment passes without the image of your ruby lip, stones of misfortune rain on the heart from every side.

3. The heart set out towards the Kaaba at the head of your quarter at a time when in this world there was as yet no news of direction.

4. Where is that time when my playful beloved, out of coquetry, while speaking with me, would turn his eyes to another side. (Ersoy understands the couplet without the word "where", as "When my playful beloved speaks with me, out of coquetry his gaze is on another side".)

5. This is why the ascetic does not go towards the tavern: one without sight can never walk in any direction. (Ersoy understands the line as "since he can never walk without looking to one side", and adds that the ascetic is always a hypocrite.)

6. O Münîr, had his black curls not drawn me to their side, there would not be such distraction in my heart.

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 eighty-eighth of the Persian ghazals (fg 88). The metre is "mef‘ûlü fâ‘ilâtü mefâ‘îlü fâ‘ilün". The refrain (redif) is the word "ṭaraf" (side, direction); in Ersoy's list of refrains the ghazal is given with this refrain. The rhyme is the sound "-er": her, ber, ḫaber, diger, baṣar, ger. The poem is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 82b). To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The skill of the ghazal lies in the refrain being used with a different sense in every couplet. In the opening couplet the same word comes twice: "be-her ṭaraf" means on every side, while "ber-ṭaraf" means removed, kept away. In the following couplets "ṭaraf" expresses in turn the stones coming from every side, the direction that does not yet exist, the other side at which the beloved looks, the direction in which the ascetic cannot walk and, at the end, the curls drawing the lover to their side. Using the same word in so many different places shows Münîrî's fondness for wordplay.

In the opening couplet "ḫaṭṭ-ı emān" (writ of safety) is a double entendre (tevriye). In its near sense it means a written document granting safety of life; in its far sense, the down on the cheek. In divan poetry the down on the cheek is thought of as writing inscribed on the cheek; this writing gives the heart safety and protects it from the mischief of the curls. The link between the curls and mischief comes from their tangled, scattered nature. The second couplet describes the reverse of this protection: if the image of the lip leaves the heart for a moment, stones of misfortune rain from every side. Since the ruby too is a precious stone, a link is set up between "la‘l" (ruby) and "seng" (stone).

The third couplet rests on the idea of pre-eternity (ezel). The heart turned towards the Kaaba in the beloved's quarter when there was as yet no such thing as direction in the world. Since the Kaaba is what fixes direction, that is, the kıble (direction of prayer), turning towards the Kaaba when there was no direction sets up a fine paradox; it amounts to saying that love began before creation. The fourth couplet is a sentence of longing. Even the days when the beloved spoke while coquettishly looking aside are now days to be missed.

In the fifth couplet the ascetic is described as blind. One whose eyes do not see cannot walk in any direction; the ascetic's not going to the tavern comes not from his morals but from his inability to see. This is a well-known mockery that the libertine (rind) aims at the ascetic. Ersoy ties the line to the ascetic's hypocrisy. In the pen-name couplet (mahlas) the black curls have drawn the lover to their side; the "āşüftegī" (distraction, disorder) in the heart is like the curls' own disorder passed on to the lover. The ghazal thus closes by returning to the mischief of the curls of the opening couplet.

Bibliography

Online sources