Original content

English translation

Mir Nava'i — may God have mercy on him — the fortunate one whose noble existence honors our age. Although the degree of his worth, in view of his rank of dignity and grandeur and his nearness to the mighty king, and measured against his spiritual merits of learning, refinement, and the excellences both bestowed and acquired, is too lofty for him to be defined by the beauty of his poetry or described by the excellence of his verse.

But since his noble mind, through acquiring the virtue of humility and self-effacement, has stooped so far as to enroll himself in the ranks of this group [of poets], the veil of reluctance that kept others from placing him in their class and counting him among their number has been lifted. Yet fairness requires that wherever this group may be, he is the head, and whenever the name of this class is written, he stands at the head of the register — as this riddle upon his noble name conveys this meaning:

By the conduct of the excellent you have journeyed through an age, and you have gained the virtues through acts of bounty; and with your name you have surpassed all the people of merit — therefore his figure stands above the excellent.

And since the jewel of his name is too great for any place in verse to be its shell, or any station of poetry to attain its honor, the pen-name (takhallus) of his poems has been assigned to what is understood from this other riddle:

No one can grasp the essence of his name among the pen-names; on the lips of those who find it, know it to be only a 'nava' (melody) from him, and nothing more.

And although, by virtue of the strength of his nature and the breadth of his capacity, both kinds of poetry — Turkish and Persian — are within his power, his temperament inclines more to Turkish than to Persian, and his ghazals in that language will number more than ten thousand.

And the masnavis he composed in emulation of the Khamsa of Nizami amount to thirty thousand [verses], and he has pierced the jewel of verse. Among his Persian poems is a qasida composed in reply to the qasida of Khusraw, entitled 'Darya-yi Abrar' (The Sea of the Pious), which contains many subtle meanings and delicate conceits. Its opening line is this:

A fiery ruby that adorns the crown of kings is but an ember in the head for ripening a raw fancy.

And he had written this quatrain in a note, congratulating the arrival of certain travelers returning from the pilgrimage to the Hijaz:

Be fair, O enamel-hued heaven: of these two, which strode more beautifully — your world-illuminating sun from the side of dawn, or my world-wandering moon from the side of evening?

And this quatrain in another note:

This letter is no mere letter — it is the repeller of my pain, the calm of my suffering-nurtured heart, the solace of my hot heart and cold sighs; that is to say, it brings news of my world-wandering moon.

And this other quatrain, once again, in yet another note:

If I am in the monastery, I am in conversation with you; and if I am in the sanctuary, I am in search of you; in the time of presence I am face to face with you; in absence, my heart's face is turned toward you.