Original Persian Text

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

Ey der-miyān-ı her dü cihān iḫtiyār-ı dil
Cüz-kār-ı ‘ışḳ-bāzī-i to nīst kār-ı dil
‘Anḳā ki ṣayd-ı lāġer-i şeh-bāz-ı zülf-i tost
Yā Rab çi gūyemeş ki çi başed şikār-ı dil
Çün lāle der-hevā-yı gül-i bāġ-ı ḥüsn-i to
Ṣad dāġ-ı ḥasretest merā yād-gār-ı dil
Şükr-i Ḫudā ki zülf-i to-rā dīdem ü revān
Şod tārmār der-reh-i to kār-bār-ı dil
Hem-rāz-ı dil kesī be-cihān key buved Münīr
Cānem derūn-ı perde ne-şod rāz-dār-ı dil

In English

1. O beauty whom the heart has chosen between the two worlds, the heart has no work but the play of your love. ("İḫtiyār", in its dictionary sense, means both choosing and the one chosen, the choicest.)

2. When even the Anka is a lean prey of the falcon of your curls, O Lord, what is the hunting of the heart, what shall I say of it. (The Anka is the legendary bird said to live on Mount Kaf, which no one has seen.)

3. From passion for the rose of your garden of beauty, like the tulip, the keepsake left to me from the heart is a hundred wounds of longing. (In divan poetry the dark spot at the centre of the tulip is thought of as the scar of a wound.)

4. Thanks be to God that I saw your curls, and at once the affairs of the heart were scattered on your road.

5. O Münîr, who in this world could ever be a confidant to the heart; even my soul, within the veil, could not keep the heart's secret.

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 ninety-sixth of the Persian ghazals (fg 96). The metre is "mef‘ûlü fâ‘ilâtü mefâ‘îlü fâ‘ilün". The refrain (redif) is the word "dil" (heart); in Ersoy's list of refrains the ghazal is given with the refrain "-ı dil". The rhyme is the sound "-ār": iḫtiyār, kār, şikār, yād-gār, kār-bār, rāz-dār. Ersoy counts this ghazal among his examples of kafiye-i müreddefe (rhyme with a long vowel before the rhyme letter). The poem is found only in the Vatican manuscript (VT 84b). To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The refrain places the heart at the end of every couplet; the ghazal thus tells in turn of the heart's choice, its work, its prey, its keepsake, its affairs and its secret. In the opening couplet the heart has chosen the beloved between the two worlds and now has no work but the play of love. "İḫtiyār" and "kār" (work) stand side by side in the rhyme; the word "kār" appears again within "kār-bār" (affairs, business) in the fourth couplet.

The second couplet is a hunting scene. The beloved's curls, by their hooked shape and their seizing of hearts, are likened to a hunting falcon. Even the legendary Anka is a lean prey of this falcon; the hunting of the heart, then, is not even worth mentioning. The contrast between the Anka's greatness and elusiveness and the adjective "lāġer" (lean, puny) sets up an exaggeration (mübalağa) that magnifies the power of the curls. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among the words for prey, bird of prey and quarry.

The third couplet likens the tulip to the lover. The dark spot at the centre of the tulip is thought of in divan poetry as the scar that love leaves on the heart; in the lover's heart too there are hundreds of wounds left by longing for the beloved's rose cheek. Tulip and rose are named together in this couplet as two flowers of the same garden of beauty. The fourth couplet begins with an unexpected thanksgiving. The poet thanks God for having seen the curls, but at once says that the affairs of his heart have been scattered. The link between the disorder of the curls and the scattering of affairs is set up by the word "tārmār"; the contrast between thanksgiving and ruin adds a fine irony to the couplet.

The pen-name couplet (mahlas) takes up the theme of the secret. No one can be found to be a confidant to the heart; even the soul, within the veil, could not keep the heart's secret. "Hem-rāz" (confidant) and "rāz-dār" (keeper of secrets) are built on the same word and bind the two lines of the couplet together. The word veil (perde) expresses both covering and concealment; the secret not being kept even within the veil is tied to the thought that love cannot be hidden.

Bibliography

Online sources