Alisher Navoiy’s ghazals

The ghazal “Ko‘zung ne balo qaro bo‘lubtur” is built on tardi aks: the words of the first line swap places in the second and give a new meaning (“qaro balo” – the worst of calamities). The word “qaro” can in one place also be heard as the imperative of the verb (“look”) – this is iyhom. The ghazal “Meni men istagan” is from the divan “Badoyi ul-vasat”; in it the lover says the one he wants does not want him, and he does not care for those who want him; even the gathering of houris and fairies does not interest him, his heart fits only the beloved. Word repetition here makes the meaning shimmer. In “Ey sabo” the lover addresses the breeze and charges it with telling the beloved his state, the force of his weeping and that she has gone back on her promise; both life and world are sacrifice for her, but it hurts him that her glance goes to others. In the maqta‘ the poet likens himself to a nightingale with no equal in any garden. These ghazals have a radif, and the metre of each is shown in the textbook: the first is hazaj, the last ramal.