Original Persian Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātün mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātün (the edition also gives müstef‘ilün fe‘ūlün müstef‘ilün fe‘ūlün)

Türk-i süvāre dīdem der-ḳaṣd-ı cān mükemmel
Ḫūn-rīzter ez-ān şod bārī ki didem evvel
Ger cān ḫalāṣ yābed ez-tīr-i ġamze-i to
Dil key buved rehīden z’īn nergis-i mükeḥḥal
Taḥrīr-i şevḳ-ı ‘ışḳet ḫᵛāhed ki dīde gerded
Ez-ḫūn-ı dil keşīde’st ber-levḥ-i çihre cedvel
Tebdīl-i ḥālet-i ‘ışḳ gerçi sefer şod ammā
Ber-her kocā ki reftem ḥālem ne-şod mübeddel
Fikr-i leb ü dehānet şod der-dilem ez-īn rū
Goftem laṭīf ü nāzük şi‘rī çonīn muḫayyel
Devr-i teselsül ey dost her cā ki şod naẓar hest
Çeşm-i Münīr ez-ānest ber-īn ḫaṭ-ı müselsel

In English

1. I saw a mounted Turkish beauty, flawless in his design upon the soul; he has grown even more bloodthirsty than when I first saw him. (In divan poetry "Turk" means the fair beloved who plunders hearts; here, being mounted, he also recalls a raider.)

2. Even if the soul escapes the arrow of your sidelong glance, how should the heart escape this kohl-lined narcissus. (The narcissus, because of its shape, stands for the eye.)

3. The eye wished to write the yearning of your love; so with the blood of the heart it ruled margin lines on the page of the face. (Cetvel is the line ruled along the margin of a written page; it describes the traces that bloody tears leave on the face.)

4. Though a journey was made to change the state of love, wherever I went my state did not change. (Ersoy understands the couplet as "though we set out on campaign to change the states it brought upon us".)

5. Because the thought of your lip and your mouth was in my heart, I spoke a poem so graceful, delicate and full of imagination.

6. O friend, wherever there is a glance there is a chain of revolving; this is why Münîr's eye is upon this linked script. ("Müselsel", in its dictionary sense, means linked like a chain; in calligraphy, writing whose letters are joined one to another is also called müselsel. Ersoy understands the couplet as "Wherever there is a stroll one after another, there is a glance".)

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 ninety-ninth of the Persian ghazals (fg 99). The metre is "mef‘ûlü fâ‘ilâtün mef‘ûlü fâ‘ilâtün"; for this ghazal the edition also gives the pattern "müstef‘ilün fe‘ûlün müstef‘ilün fe‘ûlün" as a second metre line. The ghazal has no refrain (redif) and does not appear in Ersoy's list of refrains. The rhyme is the sound "-el": mükemmel, evvel, mükeḥḥal, cedvel, mübeddel, muḫayyel, müselsel. The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 85b) and Vienna (VY 67b) manuscripts. To whom and when it was written is not known.

In the introduction to the edition, while describing how Münîrî characterised his own poetry, Ersoy cites couplet 5 of this ghazal as an example. The poet names his poetry with the adjectives "dür-efşān" (pearl-scattering), "revān ve āb-dār" (flowing and lustrous), "dil-küşā" (heart-opening), "laṭīf" (graceful) and "nāzik" (delicate); this couplet is the example in which the last two adjectives occur.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet begins with a scene of a raid. The mounted Turkish beauty is flawless in his design upon the soul and grows more bloodthirsty each time he is seen. In divan poetry the word "Turk" describes beauty and the cruel beloved who plunders hearts; his being a horseman joins this sense with the image of a warrior. In the second couplet, even if the soul escapes the arrow of the glance, the heart cannot escape the kohl-lined eye; arrow and eye, soul and heart are set against one another. The word "mükeḥḥal" (kohl-lined) expresses the blackness and the sharpness of the eye together.

The third couplet is built in the language of the art of writing. The eye is like a scribe who wishes to write the yearning of love; it has made the face a page and ruled margin lines on it with the blood of the heart. The lines that bloody tears leave on the face are likened to the margin lines ruled on a page before writing. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among "taḥrīr" (writing), "levḥ" (page, tablet) and "cedvel" (ruled line). With the word "ḫaṭ" in the last couplet, this language of writing continues to the end of the ghazal.

In the fourth couplet a journey is made to change one's state, but nowhere does the lover's state change. "Tebdīl" (changing) and "mübeddel" (changed) come from the same root. The fifth couplet is a word by the poet on his own poetry: because the beloved's lip and mouth were in his heart, his poem has become graceful and delicate. Since in divan poetry the beloved's mouth is spoken of for its smallness and fineness, the adjectives "laṭīf" and "nāzük" suit both the mouth and the poem; the fineness of the poem comes from the fineness of the beloved's mouth.

The pen-name couplet (mahlas) sets up a second derivation (iştikak) in the rhyme: "teselsül" (going on in a chain) and "müselsel" (linked like a chain) come from the same root. Since the word "ḫaṭ" means both writing and the down on the cheek, "ḫaṭ-ı müselsel" can be thought of in two ways: a script linked like the rings of a chain, or the curling down on the cheek. Münîr's eye is upon this chained line. The words "devr" and "teselsül" in the couplet recall two terms used in Islamic theology (kelâm) for circularity and infinite regress; the poet applies these terms to glances following one upon another.

Bibliography

Online sources