Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eight-syllable syllabic metre

Kuduretten bir yel esti
Düldül’ün yeli mi ola
Fırgatı bağrımı deldi
Şakıyan bülbül mü ola
Göğe şebileyip bastı
Erenler cünbüşü kesti
Muhabbete sevgi düştü
Muhabbet balı mı ola
Muhabbet tanburu çaldı
Gönül dünyayı dolandı
Aşk geldi dalga bulandı
Çağlar akar seli m’ola
Hak şerife oldu zâhir
Mehdi gelir evvel âhir
Dine sepmeyleyen kâfir
Arasat’ta kalır m’ola
Âşıklar özünü yoklar
Kuduret unundan yerler
Derviş Edna’m deli derler
Acep gerçek deli m’ola

In English

1. A wind blew from divine power; could it be the wind of Düldül. Separation pierced my breast; could it be the singing nightingale.

2. The sky darkened and night fell; the saints broke off their merriment. Love fell upon the fellowship; could it be the honey of fellowship.

3. The tanbur of fellowship played; the heart wandered the world. Love came and the wave grew turbid; could it be a torrent rushing on.

4. God appeared to the noble one; the Mahdi comes first and last. Will the unbeliever who scorns the faith remain on the plain of the Gathering.

5. The lovers search their own essence; they eat of the flour of divine power. They call Derviş Edna mad; I wonder, could he be a true madman.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The last lines of the five eight-syllable quatrains end in doubt: the questioning redif "mı ola" or its shortened form "m'ola" (could it be). In the first quatrain "esti, deldi" pair with "yeli, bülbül"; in the later quatrains the first three lines rhyme ("bastı, kesti, düştü", "çaldı, dolandı, bulandı", "zâhir, âhir, kâfir", "yoklar, yerler, derler"). The pen name (mahlas) "Derviş Edna'm" comes in the last quatrain. The article glosses "fırgat" as separation, "şebilemek" as the darkening of the sky and "Arasat" as the plain of the Gathering. The same nefes has also been published on a website collecting deyiş, taken from Mehmet Çevik's book; there are small spelling differences between the two texts.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

It moves forward through questions. It asks whether the blowing wind is the wind of Düldül, the horse of Ali, whether the voice that pierces the breast is the nightingale, whether the love that surges in the heart is a torrent. The questions are not answered; they draw the listener into a breath of divine power, into an exaltation. The third quatrain names the "tanbur of fellowship"; the power of the saz, the deyiş and conversation to stir the soul in Alevi cem and gatherings is conveyed through this image.

The last quatrain is the key to the poem. People call Derviş Edna "mad", and he asks, "I wonder, could he be a true madman". As Onar and Işık point out, the word "gerçek" (true) is used in Gaziler Ovacığı to mean a saint. The line can therefore be understood in two ways: "am I truly mad" and "am I a saintly madman". The life story told in the article agrees with this: Derviş Edna was scorned and mocked in his own village, and his worth was understood only after his death. The fourth quatrain contains the coming of the Mahdi and the warning that whoever scorns the faith will be left on the plain of the Gathering.

Bibliography

Online sources