Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Şu âlemde bir güzeli sevmüşem
Açılmış bahçede güle benziyor
Beni mecnun etti dostun bakışı
Cennet-i âlâda Hür’e benziyor
Ne kadar meth etsem methe ilayık
Peşinde dönüyor yüz bin halayık
Deryâdan çıkmış da susamış balık
Akıyor kevseri bala benziyor
Baktım cemâline hüsn ü kemâldir
Sıtkınan sevene on iki (i)mâmdır
Müritler başı bulundu tamamdır
Şehitler serveri pire benziyor
Cihanı tutmuştur dolunmaz şevki
Alnında zöhredir görene baki
Elinde bâdesi içene saki
Al beyaz bâdesi nura benziyor
Derviş Edna’m şu âlemde bir dedim
Horasan’dan söküp gelen pir dedim
Elinde defteri cihan sır dedim
Doğup da dolunan nura benziyor

In English

1. In this world I have loved a beauty; it is like a rose opened in the garden. The glance of the Friend has made me a Mecnun; he is like Hür in highest paradise.

2. However much I praise him he is worthy of praise; a hundred thousand servants turn in his wake. I am like a fish come out of the sea and thirsting; the Kevser he pours is like honey.

3. I looked upon his face: it is beauty and perfection; to one who loves him sincerely he is the Twelve Imams. The head of the disciples has been found, the matter is complete; he is like the pir who leads the martyrs.

4. His never-waning light has filled the world; on his brow is the star Venus, lasting for whoever sees it. With wine in his hand he is cupbearer to whoever drinks; his red and white wine is like light.

5. I, Derviş Edna, said "one" in this world; I said, a pir who has come forth from Khorasan. I said, a ledger is in his hand, the world is a secret; he is like a light that rises and grows full.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

All five quatrains close on the redif (refrain word) "benziyor" (is like); in the first quatrain it is heard in the second line as well. In the later quatrains the first three lines rhyme with one another ("ilayık, halayık, balık", "kemâldir, imâmdır, tamamdır", "şevki, baki, saki", "dedim, pir dedim, sır dedim"). The metre is the eleven-syllable syllabic measure. In the last quatrain the poet names himself "Derviş Edna'm" (his pen name, or mahlas). Ali Onar and Caner Işık took the text from Mehmet Çevik's 2008 collection and corrected it from the recitations of their informants; when and to whom the nefes was addressed is not stated.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem praises a spiritual guide in the language of the folk love poem (güzelleme). The beloved is first named a rose, then the owner of a glance that drove Mecnun mad; but the third quatrain makes clear that this beauty is no ordinary beloved: to one who loves sincerely he is the Twelve Imams, the head of the disciples, like the leader of the martyrs. The article explains the word "Hür" in the first quatrain as Hür, who left Yezid's army at Karbala, went over to Hüseyin's side and fell as a martyr; the line could also be read as "houri", but this is the editors' reading.

According to the article, the word "şevki" in the fourth quatrain is used locally as "şavk", meaning gleam or light. The quatrain thus becomes a picture of light from beginning to end: the radiance that fills the world, the star Venus on the brow, the red and white wine that resembles light. The wine in the cupbearer's hand recalls the "dolu" offered in Alevi-Bektashi cem gatherings and divine love itself. In the closing quatrain the phrase "a pir who has come forth from Khorasan" connects with the widespread tradition that speaks of Hacı Bektaş Velî as the pir who came from Khorasan. Derviş Edna's own guide was Kul Fakir of Merzifon; the source does not say whether the pir praised here is he or Hacı Bektaş.

Bibliography

Online sources