Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Kur’an’ın kilidi mimdir ayındır
İki melek bir sofuya tayindir
Rehberi çobandır talip koyundur
Heyleyip sürüsün melendirmez mi
Yüzü kara talip ceme geliyor
Günahını iyisinden biliyor
Günahım yok diye lokma veriyor
Hak erenler onu dillendirmez mi
Kalkıp Hak cemine yürümeyenler
Govdan gıybetten farimiyenler
Rehberin ceminde yürümeyenler
Zebaniler nara onu sürmez mi
Kalkıp Hak cemine yürümelidir
Govdan gıybetten farimelidir
Rehberin darında erimelidir
Sakka kadehleri dolandırmaz mı
Derviş Edna’m Pir’e vardı hac’oldu
Deccal çıktı geçinmesi güç oldu
Zamane halkının gönlü piçoldu
Sitem sürsem cemi bulandırmaz mı

In English

1. The lock of the Qur'an is the letters mim and ayn; two angels are assigned to each pious man. The guide is the shepherd, the seeker is the sheep; will the shepherd not call and make his flock bleat.

2. The black-faced seeker comes to the cem; he can tell his sin from his good, yet he offers the ritual food saying "I have no sin". Will the true saints not speak of him.

3. Those who do not rise and walk to God's cem, who do not give up gossip and backbiting, who do not walk in the guide's cem; will the guardians of hell not drive them into the fire.

4. One must rise and walk to God's cem, give up gossip and backbiting, melt away at the guide's station of submission; will the cupbearer not pass round the cups.

5. Derviş Edna went to the pir and became a pilgrim; the Antichrist has appeared, living has grown hard. The hearts of the people of this age have gone bad; if I were to reproach them, would it not trouble the cem.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The third and fourth quatrains answer one another, turning the same words from negative to positive: the rhyme "yürümeyenler, farimiyenler, yürümeyenler" is answered by "yürümelidir, farimelidir, erimelidir". The last lines of the quatrains end with interrogative suffixes: "melendirmez mi, dillendirmez mi, sürmez mi, dolandırmaz mı, bulandırmaz mı" (will he not make bleat, will they not speak of, will they not drive, will he not pass round, would it not trouble). The other rhymes are built on "ayındır, tayindir, koyundur", "geliyor, biliyor, veriyor", "hac'oldu, güç oldu, piç oldu". The lines have eleven syllables, and there are five quatrains; the pen name (mahlas) "Derviş Edna'm" comes in the last quatrain. The article glosses "farimek" as to recover, to give up, and "nar" as fire.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem takes as its subject the order and ethics of the Alevi cem ceremony. The relation between guide and seeker is described through the likeness of shepherd and sheep: the guide calls the seeker to the path like a shepherd gathering his flock. In the second quatrain the seeker who comes to the cem with his sin, yet offers the ritual food saying "I have no sin", is criticised. In the cem the lokma is food offered to the community that must be lawful; food offered while a sin is hidden is therefore not accepted. The "dar" is the stance in which a person surrenders to the community and the dede in the cem; the words "melt away at the guide's station" in the fourth quatrain describe this. The cupbearer (saki) is one of the twelve services of the cem.

With two quatrains that answer each other the poem sets a moral choice before the listener: those who do not walk to God's cem and do not give up gossip are driven into the fire by the guardians of hell, while for those who walk and give it up the cupbearer passes round the cups. In the closing quatrain the words "went to the pir and became a pilgrim" reflect the Alevi view that counts visiting the pir as equal to the pilgrimage. The appearance of the Antichrist and the complaint that the people of the age have gone bad carry the sense of the end of time seen in Derviş Edna's other poems; his refraining from reproach is explained by the wish not to trouble the cem.

Bibliography

Online sources