Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Mecnun oldum Leyla için gezerim
Sadık yar olana şarımpazarım
Pirin emri ile okur yazarım
Şarım Muhammed pazarım Ali’dir
Serserilik bir hal geldi başıma
Kail oldum haktan gelen işine
Her ne yazıldıysa alnım taşına
Yazdıran Muhammed yazan Ali’dir
Ta ezelden yazılarım yazıldı
Goncam bitti tomurcuğum düzüldü
Kalktı gönül makamına süzüldü
Süzdüren Muhammed süzen Ali’dir
Derviş Edna’m makam makam gezerim
Bir makamı gördüm ondan hezerim
Kırklar meydanında engür ezerim
Ezdiren Muhammed ezen Ali’dir

In English

1. I wander as a Mecnun for Leyla; for the faithful friend he is my city and my market. By the pir's command I read and write; my city is Muhammad, my market is Ali.

2. A vagabond state came upon my head; I have accepted the work that comes from God. Whatever was written on the stone of my brow, the one who had it written is Muhammad, the one who wrote it is Ali.

3. My writings were written from eternity; my bud has grown, my blossom has been strung. The heart rose and glided to its station; the one who made it glide is Muhammad, the one who glides is Ali.

4. I, Derviş Edna, wander from station to station; I saw a station and I keep away from it. In the square of the Forty I press grapes; the one who has them pressed is Muhammad, the one who presses is Ali.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

In the last lines the same verb is used twice, first in its causative and then in its simple form: "yazdıran, yazan" (who has it written, who writes), "süzdüren, süzen" (who makes it glide, who glides), "ezdiren, ezen" (who has it pressed, who presses); each time the line closes on the pattern "Muhammed ... Ali'dir" (is Muhammad ... is Ali). The first three lines rhyme as "gezerim, pazarım, yazarım", "başıma, işine, taşına", "yazıldı, düzüldü, süzüldü", "gezerim, hezerim, ezerim". The four quatrains are in the eleven-syllable syllabic metre. In the last stanza the pen name (mahlas) "Derviş Edna'm" can be read. The article glosses "şar" as city, "kail" as convinced and "hazer" as wariness.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Its craft lies in the repetition of its last lines. Each quatrain ends by dividing the two sides of an act between Muhammad and Ali: Muhammad has the writing on the brow written, Ali writes it; Muhammad makes the heart glide, Ali glides. The idea that Muhammad and Ali come from one light and are not separate from each other is widespread in Alevi-Bektashi belief; the poem expresses this unity through an action divided between two forms of the same verb. In the first quatrain "my city is Muhammad, my market is Ali" says that the poet's whole world is built on these two names.

The second and third quatrains turn to the idea of destiny: what is written on the stone of the brow was written from eternity, and the dervish accepts what comes from God. The heart "gliding" to its station describes the ascent through the stations of the Sufi path. In the last quatrain pressing grapes in the square of the Forty recalls the Alevi narrative of the assembly of the Forty, in which a single grape is pressed and shared among all forty. The source does not draw this connection, but the image clearly resembles a well-known scene of the tradition. The line "I saw a station and I keep away from it" says that not every station is of equal worth and that the dervish shuns some of them.

Bibliography

Online sources