Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Gönül ne gezersin seyran yerinde
Şimdiki âlemde lâl olmak evlâ
Şimdiki mahluka sırrını verme
Erenler yanında hâl olmak evlâ
Sakın sen kendini cifeye katma
Şimdiki mahluka kelâmın satma
Gözle geçidini deryâya batma
Anların yanında sır olmak evlâ
Gerçek olan pinhan oldu sır oldu
Meydanda dönenler âmâ kör oldu
Bilmez kendi kendin Hak’tan dûr oldu
Anların yanında sac olmak evlâ
Seçilip çıkmalı mahluk içinden
Söylemen kelâmı geçmez suçundan
Takılır çengelli kırkın içinden
Ol vakit devranı kör olmak evlâ
Derviş Edna’m devran böyle olacak
Yetmiş üçe eren anı görecek
Hacetler elinde erkan kuracak
Ol zaman devrana gel olmak evlâ

In English

1. Heart, why do you wander in the place of pleasure; in the present world it is better to be mute. Do not give your secret to the people of today; it is better to share the state of the saints.

2. Take care not to mix yourself with carrion; do not sell your word to the people of today. Watch your crossing, do not sink in the sea; it is better to be a secret beside them.

3. The true one has gone into hiding and become a secret; those who turn about in the square have become blind. Whoever does not know himself has become far from God; it is better to be a hair beside them (the last word of the line appears in the source as "sac").

4. One must be singled out and leave the crowd; the word spoken does not win pardon for the fault. One is caught on a hook from among the Forty; then it is better to be blind to the age.

5. I am Derviş Edna, the turning of the age will be thus; whoever reaches the seventy-three will see it. With wishes in his hands he will set up the rite; then it is better to come into the age.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

"Evlâ", that is, it is better, is the last word of every quatrain; before it comes a noun built with the verb "olmak" (to be): "lâl olmak, hâl olmak, sır olmak, sac olmak, kör olmak, gel olmak" (to be mute, to be a state, to be a secret, to be a hair, to be blind, to come). The first quatrain opens with the words "yerinde, evlâ, verme"; the first three lines of the later quatrains rhyme as "katma, satma, batma", "sır oldu, kör oldu, dûr oldu", "içinden, suçundan, içinden", "olacak, görecek, kuracak". The text runs to five quatrains in the eleven-syllable syllabic metre. In the last quatrain the pen name (mahlas) takes the form "Derviş Edna'm". The article gives no glosses for this nefes.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Its chief counsel is silence. "Lâl olmak" means to be mute; the poet says that in a corrupt age it is better to keep silent than to open one's secret to the people of the time. This counsel rests on the principle of keeping the secret, which holds an important place in Alevi-Bektashi ethics; the knowledge of the path is opened to those fit for it and not told to the unfit. In the second quatrain worldly goods likened to carrion and the word that must not be "sold" continue the same view: truth is not an article of trade.

The third quatrain repeats a complaint seen in other poems of Derviş Edna: the true one, that is, the saint, has gone into hiding, and those who turn about in the square have become blind. As Onar and Işık point out, the word "gerçek" (true) is used locally to mean a saint; the line can therefore be read both as "truth has gone into hiding" and as "the saints have gone into hiding". The last quatrain announces that whoever reaches the seventy-three will see this turning of the age and that a time will come when wishes are fulfilled; then joining the age takes the place of silence. The poem thus comes out of a dark picture of the age with a word of hope.

Bibliography

Online sources