Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Bir kısacık hisse geldi dilime
Söyleyim de kulak verin erenler
Her birine türlü türlü dert vermiş
Bin dertliyi bir tabibe soran var
Aç gözünü bir gerçekten nazar et
Konan göçtü yetmiş üçten pazar et
Emrini tut nehy yanında hazer et
Zay etmezler zerresini soran var
Bir gün olur bunu senden sorarlar
Açarlar defterin hayır ararlar
Azap çok gelirse nara sürerler
Yedi tamu içerisin alan var
Yedi kıral nefs evini dağlatır
Fırsat verme âhirinde ağlatır
Son demde başı ayağa bağlatır
Yetemen menzile taksim bölen var
Derviş Edna’m eleniyor elekler
Hak yanında kabul olsun dilekler
Bize böyle haber verdi melekler
Bunu böyle ta ezelden kuran var

In English

1. A brief portion has come to my tongue; let me speak, and give ear, saints. He has given each one pains of every kind; there is one who brings a thousand sufferers to a single physician.

2. Open your eyes and look at one who is true; the one who settled has moved on, trade with the seventy-three. Keep the command, beware of the forbidden; not an atom of it is wasted, there is one who asks.

3. One day they will ask this of you; they will open your ledger and look for good. If the punishment weighs heavier they will drive you to the fire; there is one who takes in the seven hells.

4. Seven kings set fire to the house of the self; give it no chance, in the end it makes you weep. At the last breath it has your head bound to your feet; you cannot reach the stopping place, there is one who divides the portions.

5. I am Derviş Edna, the sieves are sifting; may our wishes be accepted before God. The angels gave us this news; there is one who set this up thus from eternity.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The article classes this poem as a mixture of nefes and poem of counsel. In the first quatrain the second line ends "verin erenler" (give ear, saints), and the last lines of the later quatrains meet on the redif "var" (there is one) ("soran var, soran var, alan var, bölen var, kuran var"). The first quatrain begins with the words "dilime, vermiş"; then the first three lines carry the rhymes "et, et, et", "sorarlar, ararlar, sürerler", "dağlatır, ağlatır, bağlatır", "elekler, dilekler, melekler". The five quatrains are in the eleven-syllable syllabic metre. In the last stanza the poet names himself "Derviş Edna'm" (his pen name, or mahlas). The article glosses "nehy" as religious prohibition, "hazer" as wariness, "zay etmek" as to lose, "nar" as fire, "tamu" as the Old Turkish word for hell and "yetemen" as you cannot reach.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

It opens with counsel addressed to the saints, "give ear", and recalls the reckoning of the hereafter. Every person has been given pains of every kind, but all pains have a single physician, who may be understood as God or as the guide. The second quatrain recalls the transience of the world with the words "the one who settled has moved on" and counsels obedience to God's command and wariness of the forbidden: not an atom of good done is lost. The third quatrain describes the opening of the ledger of deeds and the driving of those whose punishment weighs heavier into the seven tamu, the seven levels of hell.

The fourth quatrain is built on the self (nefs). "Seven kings" suggests the seven vices that burn and ruin the house of the self, or the seven levels of the self in Sufism; the source does not explain the phrase, and the reading is ours. If the self is given a chance it makes one weep in the end and at the last breath has one's head bound to one's feet, leaving one helpless. In the last quatrain the sifting of the sieves is an image of sorting in which good is separated from bad. The poet ends the poem with a word of surrender, saying that this order was set up from eternity and that the angels have announced it.

Bibliography

Online sources