Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Gönül evinde seyrettim cihana
Vakit tamam oldu etmem mahana
Kayıtla başını gitme tufana
Yolun dikilmeden çare bakmalı
Bu dünya fanidir yetilmez imiş
Yakasız gömlekdeatılmaz imiş
Müşteri bulup da satılmaz imiş
Bulup müşterini kâre bakmalı
Müşteri bulup da kârini yapın
Yolun ırak değil cihana bakın
Ayıtla yolunu başını sakın
Kurtarıp başını hâle bakmalı
Niceleri geldi geçti cihandan
Her ne ki dilersen dile bu handan
Günde yüz bin kere görünür sende
Gösterip yolunu Pîr’e bakmalı
Derviş Edna’m Pir göründün gözüme
Düşeydim ol sultanımın izine
Âhirinde gelirsiniz sözüme
Kurtarıp bu başı hale bakmalı

In English

1. In the house of the heart I surveyed the world; the time is fulfilled, I will make no excuse. Take care of your head, do not go into the flood; one must look for a remedy before one's road is cut off.

2. This world is passing, it cannot be caught; nothing is put into the collarless shirt. It seems it is not sold even when a buyer is found; one must find one's buyer and look to profit.

3. Find a buyer and make your profit; your road is not far, look at the world. Clear your road, take care of your head; one must save one's head and look to one's state.

4. So many have come and passed from this world; whatever you wish, wish it from this inn. A hundred thousand times a day He appears in you; one must show one's road and look to the pir.

5. I am Derviş Edna; pir, you appeared to my eye; if only I had followed the trace of that sultan of mine. In the end you will come round to my word; one must save this head and look to one's state.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The verb of counsel has settled into the redif: each quatrain ends "bakmalı" (one must look), preceded by "çare, kâre, hâle, Pîr'e, hale" (to a remedy, to profit, to one's state, to the pir, to one's state). The article classes the poem as a nasihatname, a poem of counsel. In the second quatrain the rhymes take the suffix "imiş" ("yetilmez imiş, atılmaz imiş, satılmaz imiş"); the first three lines of the other quatrains rhyme as "cihana, mahana, tufana", "yapın, bakın, sakın", "cihandan, handan, sende", "gözüme, izine, sözüme". The metre of the five quatrains is the eleven-syllable syllabic measure. In the closing quatrain the pen name (mahlas) appears as "Derviş Edna'm". The article glosses "mahana" as excuse and "âhir" as end.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem can be read as the counsel of a dervish who knows that death is near: "the time is fulfilled, I will make no excuse". The transience of the world is conveyed through an image the people know: the "collarless shirt", that is, the shroud, is a garment without pockets, and nothing of the world can be taken away in it. In the second and third quatrains a likeness taken from the market runs on: finding a buyer and making a profit. The profit here is not worldly goods but making good use of one's life and saving one's head, one's soul.

In the fourth quatrain the world is named an inn; in another nefes of Derviş Edna too man is a guest in the inn of the world. The same quatrain says that God appears in man a hundred thousand times a day; this agrees with the view in Alevi-Bektashi thought that man is a mirror of the divine. In the final quatrain the pir appears to the dervish's eye; the dervish wishes he had followed that sultan's trace and tells his listeners, "in the end you will come round to my word". These words also agree with the article's account that Derviş Edna's worth was not recognised in his own village and was understood only after his death.

Bibliography

Online sources