Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Aman Balım Sultân bu nasıl haldır
Eyliğe çevir de yüzümüz güldür
Hasretler kavuştur çilemiz doldur
Çok şükür pirimi ziyaret ettim
Dostumun cemâli şâd etdi canı
Sonuna bakalım geliyor ünü
Bu mülkün sahibi vallahi Ali
Çok şükür pirimi ziyaret ettim
Cihan Ali’nindir elinde ferman
Sultanın kelâmı dertlere derman
Emrini tutarsan mülke Süleyman
Çok şükür pirimi ziyaret ettim
Süleyman da göç eyledi faniden
Belimi bağladım kızıl deliden
İkrârımız birdir ya elestüden
Çok şükür pirimi ziyaret ettim
Derviş Edna’m ikrâr tekrar olmaz ki
Hakka âşık olan bunda gülmez ki
Fitne mahlûk işin sonun bilmez ki
Çok şükür pirimi ziyaret ettim

In English

1. Alas, Balım Sultan, what state is this; turn it to good and let our faces smile. Unite those who long for each other, complete our trial; thank God, I have visited my pir.

2. The face of my friend gladdened my soul; let us look to the end, his fame is coming. The owner of this realm, by God, is Ali; thank God, I have visited my pir.

3. The world is Ali's, the decree is in his hand; the sultan's word is a cure for pains. If you keep his command you become a Solomon over the realm; thank God, I have visited my pir.

4. Solomon too departed from this passing world; I girded my waist from Kızıl Deli. Our pledge has been one since Elest; thank God, I have visited my pir.

5. I am Derviş Edna, a pledge is not repeated; whoever loves God does not laugh at this. The mischief-maker does not know the end of the matter; thank God, I have visited my pir.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The quatrains are linked in a chain: the last rhyme word of the third quatrain, "Süleyman", is taken up again in the first line of the fourth. The last line of every quatrain is the refrain "Çok şükür pirimi ziyaret ettim" (thank God, I have visited my pir); the first three lines rhyme as "haldır, güldür, doldur", "canı, ünü, Ali", "ferman, derman, Süleyman", "faniden, deliden, elestüden", "olmaz ki, gülmez ki, bilmez ki". All five quatrains are built of eleven-syllable lines. In the final quatrain the poet says "Derviş Edna'm" (his pen name, or mahlas). The article glosses "şad" as joyful and gives a note on Elest describing the assembly of souls.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem voices thanks for a visit, for reaching the pir. It opens with a plea to Balım Sultan, the saint regarded in the Bektashi order as the second pir of the path after Hacı Bektaş Velî. The second and third quatrains say that the true owner of the realm and of the world is Ali; whoever keeps his command possesses a realm like Solomon's. The next quatrain recalls that even this worldly greatness is passing: "Solomon too departed from this passing world".

In the fourth quatrain the poet says he girded his waist "from Kızıl Deli". Kızıl Deli is a saint who lived in Rumelia and is remembered with reverence in the Bektashi tradition; "girding the waist" expresses entry into the path and attachment to a pir. The poem does not say plainly which pir was visited; the naming of Balım Sultan and Kızıl Deli points to the Bektashi milieu, but the place of the visit is left to conjecture. The words "a pledge is not repeated" in the last stanza express the belief that the word given on entering the path is given once and is not broken.

Bibliography

Online sources