Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Sabah seherinde uyardın beni
Uyardın gafletten şadettin canı
Seviyom diyenler nerede hani
Gerçek aşık sevgisinden bellidir
Canımdan sevmişim yârimden geçmem
Muhabbet kapısın sırrımı açmam
Uğramam köprüsün suyundan içmem
Akıyor kevseri baldan bellidir
Kevserin başında Muhammed Ali
İçirdi doluyu mest etti bizi
Severim dostumu neylerim arı
Arından geçenler vardan bellidir
Ar eylemeyenler varı edemez
Şaşırır yolunu doğru gidemez
Başı bunalmazsa kurban adamaz
Kesilse kurbanlar yiten bellidir
Derviş Edna’m belli oldu varımız
Dosttan dosta kavuşması kârimiz
Geçmişim dünyadan teslim varımız
Varından geçenler kârden bellidir

In English

1. At the hour of dawn you woke me; you roused me from heedlessness and gladdened my soul. Where now are those who say "I love"; the true lover is known by his love.

2. I have loved with all my soul, I will not give up my beloved; I do not open my secret at the door of fellowship. I do not stop at his bridge, I do not drink his water; his Kevser flows, it is known by its honey.

3. At the head of Kevser are Muhammad and Ali; they gave us the cup to drink and made us drunk. I love my friend, what is shame to me; those who give up shame are known by giving up what they have.

4. Those who feel no shame cannot give what they have; they lose their road and cannot go straight. Unless his head is in distress a man vows no sacrifice; when the sacrifices are slaughtered, the lost one is plain.

5. I am Derviş Edna, what we have has become plain; our gain is the meeting of friend with friend. I have given up the world, what we have is surrendered; those who give up what they have are known by their gain.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The quatrains are linked in a chain: the last word of one quatrain is taken up again at the start of the next ("kevseri, Kevserin başında", "vardan, Ar eylemeyenler"). The last line of every quatrain arrives at the redif "bellidir" (is plain, is known), preceded by "sevgisinden, baldan, vardan, yiten, kârden" (by his love, by its honey, by what they have, the lost one, by their gain). The first three lines rhyme as "beni, canı, hani", "geçmem, açmam, içmem", "Ali, bizi, arı", "edemez, gidemez, adamaz", "varımız, kârimiz, varımız". The five quatrains are in the eleven-syllable syllabic metre, and the pen name (mahlas) "Derviş Edna'm" is in the last stanza. The article glosses "şad" as joyful, "dolu" as wine and "ar" as shame.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

A moment of awakening opens the poem: at the hour of dawn, before daybreak, the Friend rouses the dervish from heedlessness. The poet looks not at the words of those who say "I love" but at love itself; the true lover is known by his love. In the second quatrain not opening the secret even at the door of fellowship repeats the Alevi-Bektashi principle of keeping the secret. In the third quatrain Muhammad and Ali offering the cup at the pool of Kevser is an image, seen in other poems of Derviş Edna as well, that ties the cup offered in the cem to the union in paradise.

The craft of the poem lies in the play between the words "ar" and "var". "Ar" is shame, the shrinking from what is held disgraceful; "var" is being, everything one possesses. Because he loves his friend the lover does not shrink from "ar", from what others will say; those who give up their shame are known by giving up what they have. In the fourth quatrain the same words are turned another way: whoever feels no shame at all cannot give what he has and loses his road. In the last quatrain the dervish says that he has given up the world and surrendered what he has; the gain is the very giving up of possession.

Bibliography

Online sources