Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Muhabbet olursa ayrılmaz canım
Rakibin yanında söylemez dilim
Hak sevdiği kula eylemez zulüm
Herkesin feylini boşa götürür
Zalim olma zulmedersin canına
Pehrüz et diline girme kanına
Gönlünü çıkarma yüce beline
Bunca emeğini boşa götürür
Gönlünü karartıp kibir tutarsan
Haram helâl demez alır satarsan
Bunca kazancına hile katarsan
Dalkılır çengeller kışa götürür
Sular gibi engününe akarsan
Yedi iklim çar köşeye bakarsan
Goydan gayibetden dilin çekersen
Seçilir gönüller hoşa götürür
Derviş Edna’m bu halimden bilene
Bir kelâm söyledik bizde olana
Hak ırak eylesin garez yalana
Yalan söyleyenler dilden tutulur

In English

1. If there is fellowship my soul will not part; my tongue does not speak beside the rival. God does not wrong the servant He loves; He brings everyone's evil desire to nothing.

2. Do not be a tyrant, you wrong your own soul; keep a fast of the tongue, do not shed anyone's blood. Do not raise your heart to the high passes; pride brings so much of your effort to nothing.

3. If you darken your heart and take hold of pride, if you buy and sell without regard for lawful and unlawful, if you mix deceit into all your gain, you are caught on hooks and dragged off into winter.

4. If you flow like the waters towards the open sea, if you look to the seven climes and the four corners, if you hold your tongue back from gossip and backbiting, hearts are cleansed and carry you to good.

5. I am Derviş Edna; we have said a word to those who know this state of mine, to those who are of us. May God keep grudge and lie far away; those who tell lies are caught by their tongue.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The first two lines of the pen-name quatrain are also quoted in the life section of the article: "Derviş Edna'm bu halimden bilene / Bir kelâm söyledik bizden alana". The last line of the first four quatrains ends with the redif "götürür" (carries, brings) ("boşa götürür, boşa götürür, kışa götürür, hoşa götürür"); in the final quatrain the pattern changes and the line closes on "tutulur" (are caught). The first three lines rhyme as "canım, dilim, zulüm", "canına, kanına, beline", "tutarsan, satarsan, katarsan", "akarsan, bakarsan, çekersen", "bilene, olana, yalana". The text runs to five quatrains in the eleven-syllable syllabic metre. The article glosses "feyl" as inclination, desire, whim; "pehrüz" as abstinence; "çar" as four.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem is built from counsel on guarding the tongue and on conduct. The first quatrain describes a tongue that speaks beside the beloved, the Friend, but stays silent beside the rival; the secret is not opened to a stranger. It says that God will not wrong the servant He loves and will bring evil intentions to nothing. The second and third quatrains tell the end of tyranny, pride and dishonest gain: the tyrant wrongs his own soul, pride brings effort to nothing, and whoever earns without regard for lawful and unlawful is caught on hooks and dragged off into winter, that is, into hardship.

The fourth quatrain shows the good road against this dark picture: flowing like the waters to the open sea, widening the heart and holding the tongue back from gossip cleanse the heart. The last quatrain contains the lines the article quotes when telling of Derviş Edna's life. According to the article, Derviş Edna addressed with these words the company who came to him from Gümüşhacıköy crossing the winter roads, pointing to those who wished to share his state and calling on those who accepted his word as the word of God. Being "caught by one's tongue", trapped by one's own words, is a familiar popular saying.

Bibliography

Online sources