Notes on the text:

¹ love-sick one [bê-del: lit., "devoid of heart"]: a word play with "beloved" [del-dâr: lit., possessed of heart].

²narcissus [narges]: a symbol for drunken eyes.

³roving knight [`ayyâr]: one who follows the ideals of chivalry; also an affectionate term for a dervish, and sometimes one who conceals being a dervish via cultivating a blameworthy reputation.

⁵pickpocket [Tarâr]: a word-play with "tresses" [Târa].

⁶idol [bot]: a frequent metaphor in sufi poetry that refers to the beautiful spiritual beloved.

⁷wakefulness [bêdârî]: spiritual wakefulness is needed on the mystical path [Tarîqa] so that the onset of spiritual states [hâl] and spiritual grace are not missed. See the advice about not missing the "divine breathings" (Masnavi 1:1951]. It also means being wakened from the "sleep" of ego-centered and worldly preoccupations and becoming aware of the overwhelming Reality of God. Muslim saints and mystics are called the "awakened ones" [bêdâr-ân] because they have become awake [yaqzân, in Arabic] to God's Presence and Lordship, and because they are able to "see" Divine realities that are hidden to those who are "asleep" to God. See the verses: "Whoever is awake (to the material world) is more asleep (to the spiritual world): his "wakefulness" is worse than his sleep.When our souls are not awake to God, wakefulness is like our prison bars." [Masnavi 1:409]

⁸(mystical) secrets [asrâr]: refers to mystical insights, intuitive knowings, and revelatory inspirations [ilhâm] that must be kept secret among advanced sufis (such as Mawlânâ and Shams-é Tabrîzî, especially after they first met and spent much time with each other) so that they are not misunderstood by non-mystics. These inner knowings are also secret in the sense that they involve spiritual states of consciousness that are beyond words and concepts.

⁹ocean-holding (place) [daryâ-bâr]: a place where the ocean surges high but is contained by cliffs or slopes. .

¹⁰What a pearl: See the verse (that refers to the Caliph `Alî): "I am the slave of the the billow of that Sea of Light which brings a pearl like this into view." (Masnavi 1:3985)

¹¹like Joseph: refers to a passage in the Qur'ân (12:19-20) which tells how Joseph's brothers sold him to a caravan of travelers for a small price of a few coins, since they had a low estimate of his value. The merchants concealed him as an article of merchandise to be sold as a slave.

¹²the (dervish) brothers of purity [ikhwân-é Safâ]: This refers to Muslim mystics, or Sufis, who seek spiritual purity. Some scholars are of the opinion that it may refer to a group of learned mystics known as the "Bretheren of Purity" of Basra (who wrote an encyclopedia around the ninth century CE, and whom scholars have called "proto-Ismailis"). However, this can be rejected because Mawlânâ refers to Sufis using many terms and metaphors, and his teachings do not contain traces of heretical and secret [bâTinî] Ismâ'îlî-like doctrines.

¹³Market-place [bâzâr]: This may also be a reference to the place where Mawlânâ met Shams-é Tabrîzî, in the district of the cotton-sellers in Konya and where, according to one story, Shams greeted him and said, "O learned banker of the ready cash of (spiritual) meanings, and knower of the (Divine) Names!" [Aflâkî, p. 84] According to another story, when Shams became ecstatically drunk [mast] and overwhelmed by divine manifestations [tajalliyât], he went secretly among the people and did hard labor until nightfall, evaded payment for his work, and would then disappear. [Aflâkî, p. 690]

In this ghazal, the "missing," "lost," "fleeing" lover are references to Shams-é Tabrîzî, who disappeared from Konya twice: once to Syria, and again never to be seen again. He is also referred to as hiding his saintliness and spiritual light by disguising himself as a blameworthy tavern dweller, roving knight, pickpocket, crafty idol, and glass-breaking drunk. In contrast, the places to search for the missing beloved are places of divine-like beauty: the beloved, the lane of the spiritual friend, the rose garden, the presence of beautiful narcissus-like eyes, the tavern of the ecstatics, the warm embrace of the sun, perfumed tresses, spiritual wakefulness, mystical secrets, and spiritual lights. In other words, the ghazal describes a mystic master who has divine-like qualities, but disguises himself via a blameworthy appearance. In sum, the mystic master may be found disguised in humble and blameworthy circumstances, such as the market-place. In this way, he also hides the lane of love, mystical secrets, and lights of spiritual realization within the illumined pearl of his heart. In other words, he is "an ocean in a drop of water, a sun contained in a mote of dust." [M.3:1982] However, the mystic master is not the source; rather, he tells the seeker to seek the "ocean-holding place" or "pearl" of his own heart that contains the ocean full of pearls, mystical ecrets and divine lights. And this was Mawlânâ's own experience, as his son, Sultân Valad wrote: "He did not find Shams-é Tabrîz in Syria; (instead), he found him within himself, like the clear moon." [Valad-Nâma] All of this relates to the Divine saying [Hadîth] attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, in which God said: "I am not contained by heaven or earth, but the heart of My faithful servant contains Me."