Original Persian Text

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

La‘l-i lebet ki ḫāṣıyet-i nūş-ı cān dehed
Der her demī be-mu‘ciz-i Īsī revān dehed
Der-pīş-i la‘l-i to dil-i men rīşehā nümūd
Bāver ne-mī-koned meger ān dem ki cān dehed
Īn hestī-i dehen ki dilā nīst bā-vücūd
Gerded işāret-i ‘adem ez-vey nişān dehed
Pervāne-i dilem ki buved mest-i ‘ārıżet
Sūz u güdāz u girye be-her şem‘-dān dehed
Sırrī ki ez-leb-i to be-merdüm şeved ‘ıyān
Ān-rā be-nāzükī be-dil-i ḫurde-dān dehed
Der-sīne ez-ḫadeng-i to zaḫmī ki mī-şeved
Ṣad būse bīşter dil-i men ber-dehān dehed
Ez-pertev-i cemāl-i to yek lem‘a ki buved
Nūr u żiyā be-mihr ü meh-i āsmān dehed
Bergī zi-gül-sitān-ı cemālet henūz nīst
Her geh zamāne gerçi gül ü gül-sitān dehed
Mā-rā yaḳīn şod ān ki dehān-ı to hīc nīst
Hest īn ḳadr ki ẓann-ı süḫan ber-gümān dehed
Ḫāk-i rehet ki cevher-i cān gofteneş tevān
Her dem ṣabā be-merdüm ez-ān rāygān dehed
Yek būse z’ān dehen ki be-cān mī-dehed nigār
Çīzī ne-gūyemeş ki hemān rāygān dehed
Her dem be-tāb-ı ‘ışḳ-ı to sūzed dilem çü mūm
Ḫod-rā derūn-ı sīne ez-ān der-miyān dehed
Ber-rūyem eşk-rā me-kon ey dīdeem revān
Kes āb-rā ne-dīd ki ber-za‘ferān dehed
Dil-rā ki tāb-ı āteş-i mihr-i ruḫet be-sūḫt
Sūdī ‘aceb buved ki lebet nār-dān dehed
Şīrīn zi-şekkerest ü bih ez-ṣad du‘ā be-men
Düşnām-ı telḫ-rā büt-i nūşīn-lebān dehed
Ez-çeşme-i ḥayāt hemān lūle’ī nehed
Ān māh-rū ki ber-dehen-i men zebān dehed
Īn muşt-ı üstüḫᵛān ki be-cāme girifteem
Ḫᵛāhed dilem ki ber-seg-i ān dil-sitān dehed
Let ḫordenem be-ṭavf-ı ser-i kūy-ı ān ṣanem
Ẕevḳ u ṣafā-yı ravża-i bāġ-ı cinān dehed
La‘l-i lebet merā be-cevāhir fürūḫten
Mānend-i īn dü dīde be-rūyem dükān dehed
Ey şāh-ı ḥüsn her ki to-rā mī-resed lebet
Fī’l-ḥāl ez-ān dü merdümekeş-rā dü kān dehed
Ez-ḫāk-i dergeh-i to her ān baḥr-i eşk-i men
Ber-gül-sitān-ı kūy-ı to āb-ı revān dehed
Zaḫm-ı ḫadeng-i ġamze-i cādūyet ey ṣanem
Ber-cān-ı ḫaste rāḥat-ı rūḥ u cinān dehed
Bī-gül-şen-i cemālet eger ḫāk mī-şevem
Her cā ki bād-ı ṣubḥ bered … dehed
Peykān-ı tīr-i to ki be-māned be-sīneem
Be’nmāyed īnçonīn ki be-dil … dehed
Bergī zi-gül-sitān-ı cemālet ne-mī-şeved
Ger ṣad hezār berg gül-i būstān dehed
Ġālib ne ez-cibill-i to peydāst īn heme
Ez-cūy-bār-ı luṭf-ı şeh-i kām-rān dehed
Şeh Bāyezīd ḫān ki heme ḫān esīr-i ūst
Nūşīn-revān be-ḳālib-i Nūşīn-revān dehed
Ser-çeşme-i ḫilāfet ü ġāzī ki rütbeteş
Āb-ı nihāl-i ‘adl zi-tīġ-i Yemān dehed
Hemçün zamāne düşmen-i ḫod-rā celāl-i ū
Gāhī be-bād gāh be-āb-ı revān dehed
Ḫᵛāhed zi-çākerān-ı vey āyed yekī resūl
‘Īsī be-dest-i mihr ki īn nerd-i bān dehed
Ger mülk-i ‘ālemeş ki dileş ber-kesī dehed
Bīş ez-taḫayyül-i dil-i ḫod ū der-ān dehed
Dest-i bahār bīn ki çi ḳullāb mī-zened
Der-ḫıdmeteş ki ḳavs-i ḳuzaḫ-rā kemān dehed
Ez-āb-ı luṭf u perveriş-i ẓıll-i ‘āliyeş
Her şūḫ u Türk-tāz kemend ü kemān dehed
Der-her nefes ṭufeyl-i ‘aṭā vü sehā-yı ūst
Ān la‘l ü dür ki baḥr ü heme ‘ömr kān dehed
Ḫāk-i reheş ki secde-geh-i şāh-ı encümest
Her rūz būse ḫüsrev-i gerdūn ber-ān dehed
Der-devr-i şāh-bāz-ı celāleş ‘acīb nīst
Şāhīn be-çeşm-i ḫod ki be-kebk āşyān dehed
Şod perde-dār-ı ḳadr-i refī‘-i vey erçi ‘arş
Ẓıll-i ẓalīl-i ū be-felek sāye-bān dehed
Ey şāh-ı heft kişver ü sulṭān-ı baḥr ü ber
Ḫāk-i deret murād-ı heme ins ü cān dehed
Der-her süḫan ḫayāl-i daḳīḳa-şinās-ı to
Ta‘līm-i nükte-i ḫıred-i ḫurde-dān dehed
Ez-çākerān-ı dergeh-i ‘ālī-cenāb-ı to
Maḳṣūd-ı ḫalḳ-ı ‘ālem ü pīr ü cüvān dehed
Ẕerrāt-ı ḫāk-i vey hemegī mihr-i lāmi‘est
Şāh-ı felek ki rūy berīn āstān dehed
Şeh-bāz-ı sidre ez-dil ü cān mī-bered ḥased
Ḳaṣr-ı refī‘et er be-kebūter mekān dehed
Çarḫ-ı felek ki āvered īn mihr ü māh-rā
Gūyā zi-maṭbaḫet be-gedāyeş dü nān dehed
Gerd-i rehet ki çeşme-i ‘ayn-ı ḥayāt buved
Her ‘ayn-ı kīmyā ki ḫaber dād ez-ān dehed
Der-bezm-gāh-ı ‘ālem-i ‘ulvī şeb-i sefer
Ez-nevk-i nīze leşker-i to şem‘-dān dehed
Vaṣf-ı cemīl ü ‘adl-i to-rā ey melek-ṣıfat
Bā-yekdiger ḫaber heme kerd beyān dehed
Ḳadr-i refī‘-i to ki ḳażā çāker-i veyest
Her cā k’işāret-i to buved ū emān dehed
Ez-behr-i ḫūn-ı düşmen ü a‘dā-yı devletet
Ber-dest-i dehr ḫüsrev-i gerdūn emān dehed
Şāh-ı felek ne-dīde vü hergiz ne-kerdeest
Īn rūşenī ki Ḫüsrev-i ṣāḥib-ḳırān dehed
Ez-dest-i gerdişī ki resed ḫaste ber-dereş
Baḫşed ḥayāt yek nefeseş cāvdān dehed
Devlet-serā-yı şer‘ be-īn çār ṣuffaeş
Ma‘mūrter ki perveriş īn ḫanedān dehed
Ger baḥr ü kān be-ḫıdmet-i ḫod ‘acz mī-berend
Cūd u seḫā-yı Ḫüsrev-i gītī-sitān dehed
Nā-geh ki yek gedā buved ü ḥācetī bered
Ez-sāyilān-ı dergeh-i ū ḫān ü mān dehed
Şāhā egerçi Rūmīyem ü bende-i ḥaḳīr
Ammā zebān-ı Fürs be-kes ḥaḳ hemān dehed
Ber-güfte-i Ẓahīr Münīrī be-himmetet
Eknūn cevāb-ı medḥ-i Ḳızıl Arslan dehed
Selmān be-īn ḳaṣīde eger gūş mī-zened
Dāned ki dād-ı Ḥaḳ be-kesī hem-çonān dehed
İḳlīm-i Vīs-rā ki be-kes mī-dehī henūz
Fikret der-ān buved ki revān bīş ez-ān dehed
Tā īn dü gevherī ki felek rūz u şeb çonīn
Ez-behr-i def‘-i ẓulmet-i īn dūdmān dehed
Bādā zi-mihr-i ḥüsn-i to rūşen cihān ki tā
Bā-yekdiger ki mihr ü ḳamer-rā ḳırān dehed

In English

1. Your ruby lip has the property of the draught of life, the drink that prolongs one's days; every moment it gives life with the miracle of Jesus. (The breath of Jesus, which raised the dead, is likened to the beloved's lip bestowing life. "Revān" in its dictionary sense means both soul, life and flowing, at once.)

2. My heart showed its wounds before your ruby lip; your lip does not believe it, unless it be at the moment when the heart gives up its life. (Ersoy understands the second line as "it did not believe this, because it bestows life with its lips"; the Persian word order also allows the reading that belief will come only when the heart gives up its life. The couplet can be read in two ways.)

3. O heart, this "existence" of that mouth which has no existence becomes a sign of non-existence and gives a token of it. (In divan poetry the beloved's mouth is so small that it counts as nothing; the mouth shows itself only by pointing to non-existence.)

4. My moth of a heart, drunk on your cheek, gives burning, melting and weeping to every candlestick. (Ersoy understands the couplet as "my heart burns, is consumed and weeps before every candlestick"; the line can also be read as the heart's burning teaching the candles in the candlesticks how to burn.)

5. If a secret from your lip should become visible to people, it gives that secret with delicacy to the heart that understands fine things.

6. To the mouth of every wound that your glance's arrow opens in my breast, my heart gives more than a hundred kisses. (The mouth of the wound is thought of together with the beloved's mouth; Ersoy understands it as the heart giving hundreds of kisses to the beloved's mouth.)

7. If there were a single gleam of the light of your face's beauty, it would give light and radiance to the sun and the moon in the sky.

8. However much time gives roses and rose gardens at every season, there is as yet not one leaf from the rose garden of your beauty; that is, the world has not been able to produce even the like of one leaf of your beauty.

9. We have learnt for certain that your mouth does not exist at all; only this much: the words you speak give rise to a doubt. (There is no mouth, yet since the beloved speaks, there may be one; Ersoy understands it as "we fell into doubt as to whether you speak or not".)

10. The dust of your road may be called the jewel of the soul; the morning breeze (saba) brings it to people every moment for free.

11. That beauty, lovely as a painting, gives a kiss from that mouth in return for a soul; I say nothing to her, for she gives it as if for free. (Ersoy understands it as "she gives a kiss to the soul; since she gives it for nothing, I can say nothing"; "be-cān" can also be read as "for the price of a soul", and then a kiss paid for with one's life is still reckoned free.)

12. Every moment my heart burns like a candle with the fire of your love; for this reason it keeps itself hidden inside the breast, in the middle.

13. O my eye, do not let your tears run down my face; no one has ever seen saffron being watered. (The lover's yellowed face is likened to saffron.)

14. The fire of the sun of your cheek burned my heart; what a strange benefit it would be if your lip gave a pomegranate seed. (The pomegranate seed stands for the kiss to be had from the lip. "Nār" in its dictionary sense means fire in Arabic and pomegranate in Persian; the word "nār-dān" thus also connects with fire. Ersoy understands it as "if you gave a kiss from your lip, would it do this fire any good?")

15. The bitter abuse of idol-like beauties with sweet lips is sweeter to me than sugar and better than a hundred prayers.

16. That moon-faced one who puts her tongue into my mouth sets there, as it were, a spout from the fountain of life.

17. My heart wishes to give this handful of bones wrapped in my clothes, that is, my body, to the dog of that heart-stealing beloved.

18. Being kicked while circling the quarter of that idol-like beauty gives me the joy and delight of the gardens of paradise.

19. Your ruby lip, to sell me jewels, opens a shop on my face like these two eyes. (The eyes that shed tears of blood are likened to a jeweller's shop. Ersoy understands the couplet as "your lips grant my face two mines like my eyes".)

20. O king of beauty, whoever reaches you, your lip at once gives two mines to his two pupils.

21. My tears, which have become a sea, give running water from the dust of your threshold to your quarter, which is like a rose garden.

22. O idol-like beauty, the wound of the arrow of your sorcerous glance gives the sick soul ease of spirit and the gardens of paradise.

23. If I become dust apart from the rose garden of your beauty, wherever the dawn wind carries that dust it gives … . (One word of the line is not written in the manuscripts; according to Ersoy this place is left blank in VY and VT.)

24. The arrowhead of your arrow that remains in my breast appears as though it gives … to the heart. (In this line too one word is not written in the manuscripts.)

25. Even if the garden rose gives a hundred thousand petals, it cannot become one leaf from the rose garden of your beauty.

26. It seems that all this does not come from your own nature; (the beloved) gives these things from the river of grace of the king who attains every wish. (Ersoy adds the address "O beloved!" at the start of the couplet.)

27. Shah Bayezid Han, whose captives all khans are, gives a sweet soul to the frame of Nûşirevân. ("Nūşīn-revān" means "sweet soul" in its dictionary sense and sounds the same as the name of Nûşirevân, the ancient Persian king remembered for his justice; the sultan brings that king's justice back to life. Ersoy understands the couplet as "he gives peace to the soul in the form of Nûşîn-revân".)

28. The ruler who is the fountainhead of the caliphate and whose rank is that of a gazi (warrior for the faith) gives the water for the sapling of justice from a Yemeni sword. (The gleam of the blade is called its "water"; the sword waters justice.)

29. His majesty, like time itself, gives his enemy now to the wind, now to running water.

30. Should one of his servants wish to come to heaven as an envoy, Jesus would hand down this ladder with the hand of the sun. ("Nerd-i bān" is "nerdübān", ladder, in its dictionary sense; "mihr" also means both the sun and love.)

31. If his heart wishes to give someone something of the world's dominion, he gives him more than his own heart had imagined.

32. See how the hand of spring casts its hook; in his service it gives the rainbow as a bow. ("Ḳullāb" in its dictionary sense is a hook, a grapnel; Ersoy understands it as "see how it draws a bow".)

33. From the water of grace and the nurture of his lofty shadow, every playful and raiding beauty acquires a lasso and a bow.

34. The ruby and pearl that the sea and the mine give over a whole lifetime are, at every breath, uninvited guests at the table of his gifts and generosity. ("Ṭufeyl" in its dictionary sense means an uninvited guest; Ersoy says these jewels count as nothing beside his generosity.)

35. The dust of his road is the place where the king of the stars bows down; every day the sovereign of the heavens, the sun, gives it a kiss.

36. In the age of his falcon-like majesty it is no wonder that the hawk gives the partridge a nest in its own eye. (Justice is so widespread that the bird of prey shelters its quarry.)

37. Though the empyrean (arş) acts as curtain-keeper to his lofty dignity, his deep and cool shade gives the sky a canopy.

38. O king of the seven climes, sultan of land and sea, the dust of your door gives all men and jinn their desire.

39. Your imagination, which knows every subtlety, gives lessons in wit to the discerning mind in every word.

40. Each of the servants of your noble threshold gives the people of the world, old and young, their wish.

41. All the particles of his dust are a shining sun; for this reason the king of the sky, the sun, rubs its face on this threshold.

42. If your lofty palace gives a dove a place, the falcon of the Sidre envies it with heart and soul. (Ersoy explains "the falcon of the Sidre" as Gabriel.)

43. The turning sphere that brings this sun and moon gives, as it were, two loaves from your kitchen to your beggar. (The sun and the moon are likened to two round loaves.)

44. The dust of your road, which is the fountain of eternal life, gives the very essence of alchemy that anyone has ever told of. (The couplet can be read in two ways: Ersoy understands the second line as "everyone expert in alchemy has told of this". "‘Ayn" in its dictionary sense means both a spring and the thing itself, its essence, and it is used twice in the couplet with these two senses.)

45. On the night of the campaign your soldiers give candlesticks from the tips of their spears to the assembly of the higher world. (The gleam of the spear tips becomes candles for the gathering in heaven.)

46. O you of angelic nature, everyone tells one another of your fine qualities and your justice and speaks of them.

47. Your lofty dignity, whose slave is fate itself, gives safety wherever you point.

48. For the blood of the enemies of you and your state, the sovereign of the heavens gives safety into the hand of time. (The meaning of the couplet is not clear; Ersoy too renders it word for word as "the king of the world gives safety into the hand of time". The rhyme word "emān" is repeated in couplets 47 and 48.)

49. The sun has never seen, and has never itself been able to give, this brightness that the lord of the conjunction gives.

50. If a sick man, at the hands of time's turning, comes to his door, he grants him eternal life with a single breath.

51. The palace of the state of the sacred law, with these four platforms, becomes more flourishing through the nurture of this dynasty. (What the four platforms stand for is not explained in the couplet.)

52. If the seas and mines fall short in their service, the generosity and bounty of the world-conquering ruler suffice.

53. If a beggar should suddenly come and present a need, even one of the beggars at his door gives him house and home. ("Ḫān u mān" in its dictionary sense means house and home; "ḫān" also means ruler. Ersoy understands the couplet as "he bestows sovereignty on those who ask at his court".)

54. O king, though I am a Rumi, that is, an Anatolian, and a lowly servant, the Persian tongue still gives each man his due. (Ersoy understands it as "knowing Persian makes one's due be acknowledged".)

55. Münîrî, by your favour, now gives an answer to the words of Zahîr, to his praise of Kızıl Arslan.

56. If Selmân lends an ear to this kaside, he will know that God's bounty is given to someone in this measure as well. ("Dād" in its dictionary sense means both gift and justice, one's due.)

57. While you are still giving someone the realm of Vîs, your thought is to give more than that at once. (Ersoy understands it as "when you give someone the realm of Vîs, your heart gives more than your thought".)

58. As long as the sphere gives these two jewels, the sun and the moon, day and night in this way, to dispel the darkness of this dynasty,

59. As long as the sun and the moon meet in conjunction, may the world be bright with the sun of your beauty. ("Ḳırān" in its dictionary sense is the meeting of two heavenly bodies in the same sign; it connects with the title "ṣāḥib-ḳırān" in couplet 49.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a Persian kaside (qasida) of fifty-nine couplets and is numbered Kaside 17 in the edition. The kaside is a long verse form in which every couplet carries the same rhyme, usually written in praise of a ruler. The metre is "mef‘ûlü fâ‘ilâtü mefâ‘îlü fâ‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is the Persian verb "dehed" (gives); Ersoy too lists "dehed" among the kaside refrains of the divan. The rhyme rests on the sound "-ān" (cān, revān, nişān, şem‘-dān, dehān, āsmān, gül-sitān, rāygān …); Ersoy cites this kaside as an example of kafiye-i müreddefe, rhyme with a long vowel before the rhyme letter. Some rhyme words are repeated: "rāygān" is used twice, in couplets 10 and 11, "emān" in 47 and 48, "cinān" in 18 and 22. "Revān" in couplet 1 and "Nūşīn-revān" in couplet 27 carry the same sound with two different meanings. The kaside is found in the Vatican (VT 31a) and Vienna (VY 154b) manuscripts. The heading in the edition, "Der-medḥ-i Sulṭān Bāyezīd Ḫān ḫalledallāhü mülkehū", means "In praise of Sultan Bayezid Han; may God make his dominion eternal". The source gives no information on when the kaside was presented.

The sections of the kaside are clearly visible in the text. Couplets 1-25 are an introductory section in the manner of a ghazal, addressed to the beloved (teşbib); lip, mouth, cheek, the arrow of the glance and tears are its chief subjects. Couplets 8 and 25 repeat almost the same thought: all the roses in the world cannot equal one leaf from the beloved's garden of beauty. Couplet 26 is the transition (girizgâh); by saying that the beloved receives all this beauty from the grace of "the king who attains every wish", the poem passes to praise, and in couplet 27 the name of Shah Bayezid Han is given. Couplets 27-53 are the panegyric. Couplets 54-56 are the self-praise section (fahriye) in which the poet speaks of himself and his poem; the pen name (mahlas) appears in couplet 55 as "Münīrī". Couplet 57 is a last piece of praise, and couplets 58-59 are the prayer, linked together by the formula "tā …" (as long as …).

The kaside is written in Persian; the English prose rests on the original couplets and on Ersoy's renderings in his apparatus. The places where it departs from Ersoy or where the couplet can be understood in two ways (couplets 2, 4, 9, 11, 19, 44, 53, 57) are marked separately in the prose. In the second lines of couplets 23 and 24 one word each is not written in the manuscripts; these gaps are shown with "…" in the original text and have not been filled in the prose. The meaning of couplet 48 is not clear.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In the introductory section Münîrî works the established beauty motifs (mazmun) of divan poetry with the resources of Persian. The beloved's lip gives life like the breath of Jesus (1); her mouth is so small that it is a sign of non-existence and is thought to exist only because she speaks (3, 9). The lover's heart is a moth drunk on her cheek (4), it burns like a candle (12), and every wound in his breast becomes a mouth that kisses the beloved's arrow (6). The yellowed face resembles saffron and must not be watered with tears (13); eyes shedding tears of blood turn into a jeweller's shop (19). In this section the lover's joyful acceptance of humiliation is also frequent: the bitter abuse of beauties is better than a hundred prayers (15), being kicked in the beloved's quarter gives the joy of paradise (18), the poet's body is offered to the beloved's dog (17).

In the panegyric the wordplay grows denser. In couplet 27 the word "nūşīn-revān" is both "sweet soul" and the name of Nûşirevân, remembered for his justice; Bayezid gives the frame of the ancient king a new life. In couplet 28 "ser-çeşme" (fountainhead), the "water" of the sapling of justice and the gleam of the Yemeni sword build a congruence of images (tenasüp) around the image of water. The word "nerd-i bān" (ladder) in couplet 30, the relation between "ḫān u mān" (house and home) and "ḫān" (ruler) in couplet 53, the word "dād", meaning both gift and justice, in couplet 56, and the link between the "ḳırān" (conjunction) of sun and moon in couplet 59 and the title "ṣāḥib-ḳırān" in couplet 49 are examples of this play. The sultan's generosity is described with hyperbolic comparisons: the pearl of the sea and the ruby of the mine are uninvited guests at his table (34), the sphere brings the sun and moon like two loaves given to beggars from his kitchen (43), even the beggars at his door bestow house and home on others (53). The reach of his justice is shown by the hawk giving the partridge a nest (36).

Couplet 54 is one of the striking places in the kaside. The poet calls himself a "Rūmī", that is, an Anatolian, and a lowly servant, but says that the Persian tongue will give a man his due; Ersoy understands the couplet as "knowing Persian makes one's due be acknowledged". In this way an Anatolian poet's claim to write a kaside in Persian is voiced openly within the kaside itself.

Historical Context

The recipient of the kaside is clear from the heading and from the name "Şeh Bāyezīd ḫān" in couplet 27: the patron is Bayezid II. According to Ersoy, the influence of the masters of the kaside in classical Persian literature, Zahîr-i Fâryâbî and Selmân-ı Sâvecî, is seen in Münîrî's Persian kasides; the TDV entry makes the same observation. Ersoy counts this kaside with the "-ān dehed" rhyme and refrain among the poems written as nazire (response poem) to both Selmân and Zahîr. The poet says this himself within the kaside: in couplet 55 he states that, by the sultan's favour, he is answering Zahîr's praise of Kızıl Arslan; in couplet 56 he says that if Selmân heard this kaside he would understand that God's bounty is given in this measure as well. In his introduction Ersoy quotes these two couplets as an example of Münîrî following in the footsteps of Zahîr and Selmân in the kaside. Kızıl Arslan appears in the couplet as the name of the ruler Zahîr praised; whether the kaside was written in Bayezid's years as prince in Amasya or during his reign is not stated in the sources.

Bibliography

Online sources