Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Çoğaldı derdim de sızılar yâre
Dağıldı nasipler gel eriş paya
Elestü gününden tutuldu maya
Mayamız Muhammed handa mihmanım
Mihman oldum nice hanlar yokladım
Elestü gününden ikrar sakladım
Sildim süpürdüm sarayı pakladım
Ustamız birdir bu canda mihmanım
Ustamızdan aldım böyle bir öğüt
Dönder değirmenin ununu öğüt
Üstü çıkıncağız oldum da meyyit
Hidayet Allah’tan Haktan fermanım
Hakkın buyruğu da farz oldu bize
Tuta gör emrini nehiyden uza
Kirâmen katibi yazını yaza
Ezelden arzumuz sinde mihmanız
Derviş Edna’m sin sualin vermeli
Eyliğe çalışıp hakkı bilmeli
Gelip gidip bu cemalde kalmalı
Ezelden arzumuz günde mihmanım

In English

1. My pain has multiplied, my wound aches; the portions have been given out, come and reach your share. Our substance was set on the Day of Elest; our substance is Muhammad, I am a guest in this inn.

2. I became a guest and looked into many an inn; since the Day of Elest I have kept my pledge. I wiped, swept and cleaned the palace; our master is one, I am a guest in this soul.

3. From our master I took this counsel: turn your mill, grind your flour. Until the top of the flour came up I became like one dead; guidance is from God, my decree is from the Truth.

4. God's command has become our duty; keep His order, stay far from what is forbidden. Let the recording angels write your record; this has been our wish from eternity, we are guests in the grave.

5. Derviş Edna must answer the questioning of the grave; he must work at goodness and know God. Coming and going, he must remain in this countenance; this has been our wish from eternity, I am a guest in this day.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The third quatrain contains a pun (cinas): the word "öğüt" means counsel in the first line and grind in the second. The last lines of the quatrains end "mihmanım" or "mihmanız" (I am a guest, we are guests); only in the third quatrain is the pattern broken, the line closing on "fermanım" (my decree). The rhymes are built on "yâre, paya, maya" in the first quatrain and on "yokladım, sakladım, pakladım", "öğüt, öğüt, meyyit", "bize, uza, yaza", "vermeli, bilmeli, kalmalı" in the others. The lines have eleven syllables, and there are five quatrains; in the closing quatrain the pen name (mahlas) "Derviş Edna'm" can be read. The article glosses "mihman" as guest, "meyyit" as dead, "nehy" as prohibition, "sin" as grave and "eylik" as goodness.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The basic image of the nefes is that the world is an inn and man a passing guest in it. The dervish says that he has wandered through many inns but has never let go of the pledge he gave on the Day of Elest. The words "our substance is Muhammad" express the Alevi-Bektashi idea that the light of Muhammad and Ali is present in the human essence. In the second quatrain the wiping and sweeping of the palace is the cleansing of the heart so that it may host God.

In the third quatrain the master's counsel is given through an image from village life: turning the mill and grinding the flour. Becoming like one dead until the top of the flour comes up suggests the Sufi counsel to "die before dying"; this interpretation is ours. The last two quatrains tie the counsel to the thought of the hereafter: the recording angels who write down deeds, the questions to be asked in the grave and the need to stand firm in goodness. Given what is known of Derviş Edna's life, the words "our master is one" also suggest his guide Kul Fakir, though the line can be read more generally as devotion to the one God or to the pir.

Bibliography

Online sources