Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Kerbela’da küfrün askeri kat kat
İmam Hüseyin’e çok oldu zahmet
Şefaat etmeye geldi Muhammed
Düşün Kerbela’yı sabret bakalım
Har’ın oğlu Hür olmuştur orada
Har oğluna çağırmıştır sırada
Ebu’l-Kasım eremedi murada
Düşün Kerbela’yı sabret bakalım
Yirmi dört bacı deveye bindiler
Bindiler de Şam’a doğru indiler
Gör ol Mervan, Şimir ne işlediler
Düşün Kerbela’yı sabret bakalım
Kerbela cenginin sırası geldi
Ehl-i Bey(it)t olan ahdında durdu
Yetmiş üç yerinden hançer vuruldu
Düşün Kerbela’yı sabret bakalım
Derviş Edna’m o zaman da bu zaman
Ne yaman kast eyledi Şim(i)r-i Mervan
Ali Asgari yanıyor hem büryan
Düşün Kerbela’yı sabret bakalım

In English

1. At Karbala the army of unbelief stood rank on rank; much hardship befell Imam Hüseyin. Muhammad came to intercede; think of Karbala, and be patient.

2. There the son of Har became Hür; when his turn came he called out to Har's son. Ebu'l-Kasım did not attain his wish; think of Karbala, and be patient.

3. Twenty-four women mounted the camels, mounted and went down towards Damascus. See what Mervan and Şimir did; think of Karbala, and be patient.

4. The hour of the battle of Karbala came; the Family of the Prophet stood by its covenant. He was stabbed with daggers in seventy-three places; think of Karbala, and be patient.

5. I am Derviş Edna; then as now, how terribly Şimr-i Mervan set out to do harm. Ali Asgar is burning and roasting; think of Karbala, and be patient.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Each quatrain closes on the same counsel: "Düşün Kerbela'yı sabret bakalım" (think of Karbala, and be patient). The article classes this poem as a mersiye, a lament. In the first quatrain "kat kat, zahmet, Muhammed" form a half-rhyme; in the later quatrains the first three lines are linked ("orada, sırada, murada", "bindiler, indiler, işlediler", "geldi, durdu, vuruldu", "zaman, Mervan, büryan"). The five quatrains are in the eleven-syllable syllabic metre, and the pen name (mahlas) "Derviş Edna'm" is in the final quatrain. The article explains "Hür" as Har's son who went over to Hüseyin's side and was martyred, "Ebu'l-Kasım" as the son of Hasan martyred at Karbala, and "biryan" as meat roasted in the tandır oven. The nefes has also been published on a website collecting deyiş, taken from Mehmet Çevik's book.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The lament names the familiar scenes of Karbala one after another: the multitude of Yezid's army, Hür going over to Hüseyin's side at the last moment, Hasan's son Kasım falling as a martyr before attaining his wish, the women of the Prophet's Family set on camels and carried off to Damascus, and Hüseyin wounded in seventy-three places. The article explains the words "the son of Har became Hür" in the way they are told locally: Har's son, refusing to stand against Hüseyin and crossing to his side, became "Hür", that is, free. In the last stanza the suffering of Hüseyin's infant son Ali Asgar is conveyed through the likeness of meat roasting in the tandır.

The refrain gives the poem more than lament. "Think of Karbala, and be patient" counsels the listener to bear his own trouble by remembering the suffering of Karbala. The line "then as now" sees Karbala not as an event left in the past but as the symbol of an injustice relived in every age. This view agrees with the place in Alevi community life of the laments recited in the month of Muharrem. In the poem the names of the oppressors, Yezid's commander Şimir and Mervan of the Umayyad house, are joined together as "Şimr-i Mervan".

Bibliography

Online sources