Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Yoluna kurbandur cesette canım
Senin emrin ile söylüyor dilim
Gönülden çıkarma gül yüzlü pirim
Gönülle karışan yâre kurbanım
Karıştın gönlüme dalgam çoşturdum
Aşkın kürresinde sinem bişürdüm
Aşkına düşeli günüm geçirdim
Erişen günümde pire kurbanım
Seni görmeyince duramam derdim
Senidin dilimde ezberim virdin
Cümle dertlilere sendedir yardım
Çağrınca erişen cana kurbanım
Karıştı canımız vallah ayrılmam
Tanıdım dostumu billah çevrilmem
Cihanı verseler bakıp ayrılmam
Hakikat söyliyen dile kurbanım
Derviş Edna’m dosta kurban olmuşam
Cihanı seyredip bir tek bulmuşam
Selman gibi sevdiğime ermişem
Alnında balkıyan nura kurbanım

In English

1. The soul in my body is a sacrifice on your path; my tongue speaks by your command. My rose-faced pir, do not cast me out of your heart; I am a sacrifice to the beloved who mingles with the heart.

2. You mingled with my heart and made my wave surge; in the forge of love I fired my breast. Since I fell into your love I have passed my days; I am a sacrifice to the pir on the day I reach him.

3. I used to say I cannot rest without seeing you; you were the litany I knew by heart upon my tongue. The help of all who suffer is with you; I am a sacrifice to the soul who comes when called.

4. Our souls have mingled, by God I will not part; I have known my friend, by God I will not turn back. If they gave me the world I would not look at it and part; I am a sacrifice to the tongue that speaks the truth.

5. I, Derviş Edna, have become a sacrifice to the Friend; I have surveyed the world and found the one alone. Like Selman I have reached my beloved; I am a sacrifice to the light that shines on his brow.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The whole nefes is also quoted in the life section of the article, with pairs of lines written side by side. Each quatrain ends with the redif "kurbanım" (I am a sacrifice), preceded by "yâre, pire, cana, dile, nura" (to the beloved, to the pir, to the soul, to the tongue, to the light). The rhymes of the first three lines are: "canım, dilim, pirim", "çoşturdum, bişürdüm, geçirdim", "derdim, virdin, yardım", "ayrılmam, çevrilmem, ayrılmam", "olmuşam, bulmuşam, ermişem". The lines have eleven syllables, and there are five quatrains; in the closing quatrain the pen name (mahlas) takes the form "Derviş Edna'm". The article glosses "kürre" as a smith's forge, a great hearth, the struggle undergone to mature, and "balkımak" as to shine.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The article tells the story of how this nefes came to be composed. In Derviş Edna's village some presumptuous men, talking among themselves one day, set about putting themselves in the place of the saints. Troubled by this, Derviş Edna wished in his heart that his guide Kul Fakir would come; before long Kul Fakir arrived at Karasar with Halil Ağa, son of Kul Hüseyin, saz in hand, and sang deyiş to each of them in turn, putting them to shame. Having witnessed this wonder, Derviş Edna expressed his devotion to his guide in this nefes. The story rests on local narrative and is given in the article from the accounts of informants.

Every quatrain of the poem closes with the words of self-sacrifice; this is the most intense expression of devotion to the guide in Alevi-Bektashi poetry. The "forge of love" in the second quatrain describes a love that fires and matures a person like a smith's hearth. In the fourth quatrain the words "if they gave me the world I would not part" also appear as a refrain in another of Derviş Edna's nefes. In the final quatrain the words "like Selman" refer to the assembly of the Forty; according to the article the poet is saying that just as Selman reached Muhammad and Ali, he too has reached his guide.

Bibliography

Online sources