Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Şimdi âlem azdı zaman bozuldu
Ortalık karıştı yalan düzüldü
Ehl-i beyt yoluna çakal dizildi
Yetiş aslan Ali’m arada kaldık
Ehl-i beyit yolu aradan kalktı
Şimdi mahluklar kem yollara baktı
Hünkar efendim de sancağın çekti
Yetiş aslan Ali’m arada kaldık
Hünkar efendim de kılıç biliyor
Sabıra bıraktı vakit diliyor
Hakkın dellalları farzın kılıyor
Yetiş aslan Ali’m arada kaldık
Dellallar çağrışır harami çoktur
Kulak ver dellala her sözü Haktır
Ehl-i beytin bunda kıymeti yoktur
Yetiş aslan Ali’m arada kaldık
Derviş Edna’m yirmi yedide böyle
Götür bu derdini Hünkara söyle
Hünkar efendim de yaremiz bağla
Yetiş aslan Ali’m arada kaldık

In English

1. Now the world has run wild, the age is corrupted; all is in confusion, lies have been strung together. Jackals are lined along the road of the Family of the Prophet; come to our aid, my lion Ali, we are caught in between.

2. The road of the Family of the Prophet has vanished from among us; now people look to evil roads. My lord the Hünkâr has raised his banner; come to our aid, my lion Ali, we are caught in between.

3. My lord the Hünkâr knows the sword as well; yet he has left the matter to patience and awaits his time. God's criers carry out their duty; come to our aid, my lion Ali, we are caught in between.

4. The criers call out, the robbers are many; listen to the crier, his every word is the Truth. Here the Family of the Prophet has no worth; come to our aid, my lion Ali, we are caught in between.

5. I, Derviş Edna, spoke thus in the year twenty-seven; carry this pain of yours and tell it to the Hünkâr. My lord the Hünkâr, bind up our wound; come to our aid, my lion Ali, we are caught in between.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The words "twenty-seven" in the final quatrain give the poem a date; the article explains them as 1909-1910 of the common era. The refrain is a cry for help, "Yetiş aslan Ali'm arada kaldık" (come to our aid, my lion Ali, we are caught in between), and the article classes the poem as a medetname. Words at the end of one quatrain are taken up again at the beginning of the next ("Ehl-i beyt yoluna, Ehl-i beyit yolu", "Hünkar efendim de sancağın çekti, Hünkar efendim de kılıç biliyor", "dellalları, Dellallar"). The rhymes of the first three lines are built on "bozuldu, düzüldü, dizildi", "kalktı, baktı, çekti", "biliyor, diliyor, kılıyor", "çoktur, Haktır, yoktur", "böyle, söyle, bağla". The metre of the five quatrains is the eleven-syllable syllabic measure; the pen name (mahlas) "Derviş Edna'm" comes in the last stanza. The article glosses "dellal" as crier.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The medetname complains of a corrupt age and asks for help from Ali and from the Hünkâr, that is, Hacı Bektaş Velî. The picture in the first quatrain is harsh: the world has run wild, lies have been strung together, jackals are lined along the road of the Family of the Prophet. "Being caught in between" is a popular idiom for being helpless and hemmed in. The second and third quatrains say that the Hünkâr has raised his banner and, though he knows the sword, has left the matter to patience and awaits his time; this expresses the belief that justice, though delayed, will come.

The image of the crier carries the second half of the poem. Like the criers who announced news and notices in the old markets, "God's criers" also call out; but the robbers are many and the worth of the Family of the Prophet is not known. According to the article, "in twenty-seven" in the last quatrain points to the year 1327, that is, 1909-1910. The date does not explain what events the poem was composed upon, and the source says nothing on this. The poet asks the listener to carry his pain to the Hünkâr and closes the poem with a wish that the wound be bound.

Bibliography

Online sources