Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Cennet-i âlâda üç gül ağacı
Ötüşür kumrular bülbül duacı
Severim muhabbet istemem acı
Hakk’ını farkeden canlar şad olsun
Canımız güldür de bakman mı işe
Sarf et emeğini gider mi boşa
Sultanım ganidir atar mı dışa
Arzumuz yaz bahardır tez gelsin
Âlemde seçilir beyler paşası
Kazanca bakarlar dörttür köşesi
Kapılar kitlendi nere kaçası
Efendim var eyle iman çok gelsin
Gözetle eyliği kurusun işler
Şad olsun gönüller kurtulsun başlar
Sene bin iki yüz otuz altı demişler
Verildi hesaplar Mehdi tez gelsin
Derviş Edna’m sabahımız Ali’den
On sekiz bin âlem yoktan var eden
Esirge başımız kurtar doludan
İsterim ki Haktan demler yürüsün

In English

1. In highest paradise there are three rose trees; the turtle-doves sing to one another, the nightingale prays. I love fellowship, I want no bitterness; let the souls who discern their God be glad.

2. Our soul is a rose, will you not look to the work; spend your effort, will it go to waste. My sultan is generous, would he cast us out of his door; our wish is summer and spring, let it come soon.

3. In the world the pasha of the beys is chosen; they look to gain, its corners are four. The doors are locked, where can one flee; my lord, bring it into being, let faith abound.

4. Watch over goodness, let evil works wither; let hearts be glad, let heads be saved. They said "the year one thousand two hundred and thirty-six"; the accounts have been rendered, let the Mahdi come soon.

5. I am Derviş Edna, our morning comes from Ali; it is he who made the eighteen thousand worlds from nothing. Spare us, save our heads from the hail; I wish that moments of grace may flow from God.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The date in the fourth quatrain poses a problem. It is written in the source text as "one thousand two hundred and thirty-six", while the article explains it as 1917-1918 of the common era; that explanation corresponds to the Hijri year 1336. Since the year 1236 falls long before Derviş Edna's birth, it appears that there is an error in the text or in its transmission. The last lines of the quatrains end with different optative forms: "şad olsun, tez gelsin, çok gelsin, tez gelsin, yürüsün" (let them be glad, let it come soon, let it abound, let him come soon, let them flow). The first three lines rhyme as "ağacı, duacı, acı", "işe, boşa, dışa", "paşası, köşesi, kaçası", "işler, başlar, demişler", "Ali'den, eden, doludan". All five quatrains are built of eleven-syllable lines, and the pen name (mahlas) appears in the closing quatrain as "Derviş Edna'm". The article glosses "şad" as joyful and "eylik" as goodness.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

It opens with a picture of paradise: three rose trees, singing turtle-doves, a praying nightingale. In Alevi-Bektashi poetry the number three often recalls the triad of God, Muhammad and Ali; the poem does not say so, and the connection is our interpretation. The poet says he loves fellowship and wants no bitterness. The second quatrain recalls that effort is not wasted and that the "sultan" is generous; summer and spring are named as the season of the awaited deliverance.

The third quatrain carries a criticism of the order of the world: the beys and pashas look to gain, the doors are locked, there is nowhere to flee. In the fourth quatrain the rendering of accounts and the wish that the Mahdi come soon express the expectation of the end of time. The date 1917-1918 given by the article falls in the last years of the First World War; the locked doors and the wish for deliverance in the poem may be related to the hardships of those years, but the source draws no such connection and this is our conjecture. The last quatrain contains the morning beginning with Ali and the wish to be saved from "dolu", meaning both hail and calamity.

Bibliography

Online sources