Original Persian Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün

Dīdem ebrūy-ı hilālet-rā ki ‘īd-i ekberest
Cān-ı men ḳurbān şod ber-vaṣl-ı ‘īd-i dīgerest
Bī-niḳāb-ı zülf-i şeb-reng-i to der-vaḳt-i seḥer
Her ki bīned mihr-i ruḫsār-ı to-rā nīk-aḫterest
Āftāb-ı ṣubḥ-ı devlet şod fürūġ-ı ‘ārıżet
Lem‘a-i rūy-ı to z’ān-rū revnaḳ-ı māh u ḫorest
Der-miyān-ı gül-sitān-ı cennet ey ḥūrī-nijād
Çeşme-i nūş-ı lebet gūyā ki ḥavż-ı kevs̱erest
Ber-ne-dāred ser zi-zānū hindū-yı zülfet meger
Mültezim şod ber-ḫarāc-ı Rūm ez-īn-rū ġam-ḫorest
Ḫālet ender-āteş-i ruḫsār u māh-ı ‘ārıżet
Gūyiyā şod āteşeş gül-şen Ḫalīl-i Āzerest
Sāḳīyā ber-ḫīz ü mey deh va‘de-i ḫāmī me-y-ār
Ez-hilāl-i ‘īd işāret çün be-devr-i sāġarest
Dest-i cevr-i zülf-i to ez-mülk-i dil bīrūn ne-şod
Gūyemeş ber-şāh-ı ‘ālem ḥālem ez-vey mużṭarest
Ān şeh-i dünyā vü dīn ya‘nī ki sulṭān Bāyezīd
Pādşāh-ı ins ü cinn ü Ḫüsrev-i baḥr ü berest
Şod hümā-yı himmeteş-rā şāḫ-ı sidre āşyān
V’āstān-ı ḳadreş ez-heftüm felek bālāterest
Key buved conbīden-i a‘dāyet ey şāh-ı cihān
Çün ṣadā-yı heybet-i to pāsbān-ı kişverest
Münşī-i çarḫ-ı felek ṭuġrā-nüvīs-i ḥükm-i tost
Z’ān ki rāy-ı rūşen-i to āftāb-ı enverest
Behr-i def‘-i çeşm-i bed ez-āftāb-ı ṭal‘atet
Dāne-i encüm sipend ü tāb-ı ḫurşīd āzerest
Key buved bünyād-ı ‘ömr-i düşmen-i to pāydār
Z’ān ki ez-fikr-i ḫadenget raḥne’ī der-vey derest
Reşk-i īn çarḫ-ı muḳarnes z’ān buved rūy-ı zemīn
K’ez nişānhā-yı kef-i pāy-ı segeş pür-zīverest
Rumḥ-ı ser-tīz ü to be’şkāfed be-rūz-ı ceng ü ḥarb
Sīne-i a‘dā eger pūlād u seng ü mermerest
Sebze-zār-ı çarḫ ez-ān her şeb buved pür-maş‘ale
Ber-fürūġ-ı ‘aḳs-i tāb-ı bezm-gāhet maẓharest
Her kocā ḫayl-i sipāhet-rā ki ‘azmī mī-füted
Fetḥ ü nuṣret der-rikābeş reh-nümā vü reh-berest
Medḥ-i rūḥ-efzā-yı to gūyem be-cān u dil müdām
Z’ān ki mer ṭūṭī-i ṭab‘am-rā mis̱āl-i şekkerest…
Dem zi-mihret mī-zened çün ṣubḥ-ı ṣādıḳ z’ān Münīr
Der-cihān meşhūrter ez-āftāb-ı ḫāverest
Ḥaydar-ı Kerrār-ı s̱ānī der-heme ‘ālem toyī
Īn kemīne der-miyān-ı bendegīyet Ḳanberest
Şod murād-ı men du‘ā-yı devletet ez-her süḫan
‘Acz-i men der-medḥet ez-ḫurşīd-i ḫāver aẓherest
Tā ki der-evc-i felek ḫod-rā nümāyed māh-ı ‘īd
Tā ki der-‘ālem ṣadā-yı rūze-i cān-perverest
Tā ebed bādā münevver cümle-i rūy-ı zemīn
Ez-fürūġ-ı māh-ı ruḫsāret ki mihr-i enverest

In English

1. I saw your crescent brow; it is the greatest festival. My soul became a sacrifice so as to reach yet another festival. ("‘Īd-i ekber" means "the greatest festival" in the dictionary sense; Ersoy explains the brow as the herald of that festival. The word "ḳurbān" means "to be sacrificed, to give oneself up", and beside the word festival it also calls to mind the Festival of Sacrifice.)

2. Whoever at dawn sees your sun-like cheek without the veil of your night-coloured locks is a person of happy fortune.

3. The radiance of your cheek became the sun of the morning of bliss; that is why the brightness of the moon and the sun comes from the light of your face.

4. O you of houri nature, in the midst of the rose garden of paradise the sweet fountain of your lip is as it were the pool of Kevser.

5. Your locks, black as a Hindu, do not lift their head from their knee; it seems they have taken on the tax-farm of Rum and so are sunk in worry. (A mültezim, in the dictionary sense, is a tax farmer who contracts with the state to collect the taxes of a district; Ersoy explains "Rum" as Anatolia. The locks falling over the face are likened to a man who has laid his head on his knee, brooding over his debt.)

6. The mole on your cheek, bright as the moon and hot as fire, is as it were Halil son of Âzer, whose fire turned into a rose garden. (Halil is the prophet Abraham; the allusion is to the fire into which he was thrown turning into a rose garden. Âzer, in the dictionary sense, is the name of his father; in Persian "āẕer" means fire. A play on words (cinas) is formed between fire and Âzer.)

7. Cupbearer, rise and give wine, bring no empty promises; for the festival crescent points to the time for the cup to go round.

8. The cruel hand of your locks has never left the land of the heart; I shall tell the shah of the world that my state is wretched because of it.

9. That shah of the world and of religion, that is, Sultan Bayezid, is the padishah of men and jinn and the sovereign of sea and land.

10. The bough of the Sidre tree has become a nest for the huma bird of his high resolve; the threshold of his rank is higher than the seventh heaven. (The huma, in the dictionary sense, is the legendary bird believed to make sovereign whomever its shadow falls on; the Sidre is the tree above the highest heaven.)

11. O shah of the world, how could your enemies stir when the sound of your majesty is the watchman of the realm?

12. The scribe of the heavens writes the tughra of your decree, for your enlightened judgement is the brightest sun. (Ersoy explains the scribe of the heavens as Mercury, that is, Utarid.)

13. To guard your sun-bright face from the evil eye, the grains of the stars are rue seed and the heat of the sun is the fire. (Rue seed, in the dictionary sense, is the seed thrown on fire and burned as incense against the evil eye.)

14. How could the foundation of your enemy's life stand firm, when the mere thought of your arrow has already breached it?

15. This many-tiered vaulted heaven envies the face of the earth, because the earth is adorned with the paw prints of your dog.

16. On the day of war and battle your sharp-pointed lance pierces the breast of your enemies, even if it be of steel, stone and marble.

17. The green meadow of the heavens is full of torches every night, because it has been favoured with the reflection of the radiance of your assembly. (The stars of the night are likened to torches.)

18. Wherever the cavalry of your soldiers turns, conquest and victory are at its stirrup as guide and leader.

19. I sing your life-giving praise ceaselessly with heart and soul, for it tastes like sugar to the parrot of my nature… (The "…" at the end of the line marks an illegible word in the edition; the missing part has not been supplied. Ersoy's meaning renders the line as a complete sentence.)

20. Because Münîr, like the true dawn, breathes of your love, of your sun, he is more famous in the world than the eastern sun. ("Mihr" means both love and sun in the dictionary sense; Ersoy understands the word as "radiant beauty". "Ṣubḥ-ı ṣādıḳ", in the dictionary sense, is the true breaking of dawn.)

21. In all the world you are a second Haydar-ı Kerrâr; and this humble servant is your Kanber in your service. (Haydar-ı Kerrâr is the epithet of Ali; Kanber, in the dictionary sense, is the name of Ali's faithful slave.)

22. My aim in every word has been to pray for your fortune; my helplessness in praising you is plainer than the eastern sun.

23. As long as the festival moon shows itself at the summit of heaven, as long as the life-nourishing call of the fast is heard in the world…

24. … may the whole face of the earth be bright for ever with the light of your moon cheek, which shines like the sun.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a twenty-four-couplet Persian kaside (qasida) and carries the number Kaside 9 in the edition. The kaside is a long verse form built of couplets that keep a single rhyme, usually written in praise of a great personage. The metre is the remel pattern "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The rhyme is the sound "-er" (ekber, dīger, aḫter, kevs̱er, Āzer, sāġar, kişver, mermer, Ḳanber), and the redif (refrain word) is "-est", the Persian equivalent of the Turkish copula "-dır"; the couplets thus end in "-erest". The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 17b) and Vienna (VY 25b) manuscripts. Its heading in the edition is "Ve lehū eyżan fī-medḥ-i Sulṭān Bāyezīd", meaning "Again by him, in praise of Sultan Bayezid"; the heading in the Vienna manuscript also states that it was written in praise of Bayezid. The eulogy that Ersoy's introduction mentions with the same "-erest" rhyme is Kaside 10, written in a different metre; no nazire (response poem) information is given for this kaside.

The sections of the kaside can be followed in the text. The first seven couplets open with a brow like the festival crescent and, after describing the beloved's face, lip, locks and mole, end with a call to the cupbearer for wine. Couplet 8 is the transition (girizgâh): complaining of the cruelty of the locks, the poet says he will tell his trouble to "the shah of the world", and in couplet 9 the patron's name comes as "sulṭān Bāyezīd". Couplets 10-18 are the praise; the sultan's rank is tied to the heavens, his majesty to the guarding of the realm, his army to victory. In couplets 19-22 the poet speaks of himself: the praise is like sugar to his nature, his pen name (mahlas) appears in couplet 20 as "Münīr", he likens himself to Kanber, the slave of Ali, and confesses his helplessness in praising. The last two couplets are a prayer built on the pattern "tā ki … tā ki …" (as long as … ). The sources do not say in which year or for which festival it was presented.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The kaside opens with the festival crescent, and its prayer section is tied to the festival moon and the call of the fast. According to the definition in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, kasides of this kind, which describe the festival in their opening and then pass to praise and prayer, are called ıydiyye; this poem too, like Kaside 8 which precedes it in the edition, has this feature. In the opening couplet the words "‘īd-i ekber", "‘īd-i dīger" and "ḳurbān" are used together; the brow turning into a crescent and the soul into a sacrifice establish the festival theme in the first couplet.

The images of the opening section are laden with mythological and religious allusions. In couplet 4 the lip is likened to the pool of Kevser, and in couplet 6 the mole on the fiery cheek to the prophet Abraham, whose fire turned into a rose garden. In this couplet the phrase "Ḫalīl-i Āzer" carries a separate play on words: Âzer is the name of Abraham's father, while in Persian "āẕer" means fire. Couplet 5 is the most striking tableau of the kaside; it likens the black locks fallen over the face to a tax farmer who has taken on the revenues of Rum and laid his head on his knee in worry over his debt. Since in divan poetry the Hindu stands for blackness and Rum for whiteness, setting the two words side by side also creates an antithesis between the black locks and the white face. Ersoy explains "Rum" as Anatolia; the entry of a tax collector into an image of love gives the couplet a colour taken from the life of the state.

In the praise section hyperbole (mübalağa) and hüsn-i talil (poetic aetiology) come to the fore. The sultan's resolve is a huma bird perched on the bough of the Sidre (10), the scribe of the heavens writes his tughra (12), and the stars are rue seeds burned to guard his face from the evil eye (13). In couplet 15 the sky envies the earth, adorned with the paw prints of the sultan's dog; in couplet 17 the brightness of the night stars is ascribed to the light reflected from the sultan's assembly. The image of the sun recurs throughout the kaside and closes in the last couplet with the words "moon cheek" and "brightest sun", which bring the moon and the sun together. In couplet 20 the word "mihr" carries both the meaning of love and that of sun, and together with the pen name "Münīr" forms a congruence of images of light (tenasüp). In couplet 21 the sultan becomes "a second Haydar-ı Kerrâr" and the poet his Kanber; the bond between Ali and his slave is carried over to the relationship between ruler and poet.

According to Ersoy, Münîrî was influenced in his Persian kasides by Zahîr-i Fâryâbî and Selmân-ı Sâvecî; the TDV article makes the same observation. The English rendering rests on the Persian text and on Ersoy's meanings in the apparatus; where Ersoy opens a point with parentheses (Rum explained as Anatolia in couplet 5, the scribe of the heavens as Mercury in couplet 12), his interpretation has been followed. The illegible word in couplet 19 has not been filled in by conjecture.

Bibliography

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