Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Müşteri olmayana satma kumaşı
Yaktı kül eyledi aşkın ateşi
Parlayıp doğuyor şahın güneşi
Gönül ne yatıyon kalk hacet dile
Ser çeşmeden gelir suyun durusu
Çırpınıp ötüyor cennet hurisi
Uyanırsam bir kez gece yarısı
Gönül ne yatıyon kalk hacet dile
Dara durmuş meleklerin hepsi
Âdem olan kendi yapar yapısı
Seherde açılır cennet kapısı
Gönül ne yatıyon kalk hacet dile
İrakipler başa kaku kakmadan
Kara toprak üstümüze çökmeden
Gökte melek kaygusunu çekmeden
Gönül ne yatıyon kalk hacet dile
Erenlerin evliyanın varisi
Kalkar hacet diler gece yarısı
Çırpınıp ötüyor arşın hurisi
Gönül ne yatıyon kalk hacet dile
Hak yarattı cümle yoksulu bayı
Gökte melek zebil yerde semayı
Hak sen mahrum etme Derviş Edna’yı
Gönül ne yatıyon kalk hacet dile

In English

1. Do not sell cloth to one who is no buyer; the fire of love has burned me to ash. The sun of the Şah is rising and shining; heart, why do you lie there, rise and ask your need.

2. The clearest water comes from the fountain-head; the houri of paradise flutters and sings. If I but wake once at midnight; heart, why do you lie there, rise and ask your need.

3. All the angels have taken their stand at the dar; the one who is truly human builds his own building. At dawn the gate of paradise opens; heart, why do you lie there, rise and ask your need.

4. Before the rivals throw it in our face, before the black earth falls upon us, before the angel in the sky takes on his care; heart, why do you lie there, rise and ask your need.

5. The heir of the saints and the friends of God rises at midnight and asks his need; the houri of the Throne flutters and sings. Heart, why do you lie there, rise and ask your need.

6. God created all the poor and the rich; the angels in the sky, and the heavens on earth (this part of the line is not clear in the source). O God, do not leave Derviş Edna deprived; heart, why do you lie there, rise and ask your need.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The refrain is a warning to the heart: each of the six quatrains ends "Gönül ne yatıyon kalk hacet dile" (heart, why do you lie there, rise and ask your need). The rhymes of the first three lines are: "kumaşı, ateşi, güneşi", "durusu, hurisi, yarısı", "hepsi, yapısı, kapısı", "kakmadan, çökmeden, çekmeden", "varisi, yarısı, hurisi", "bayı, semayı, Edna'yı". The metre is the eleven-syllable syllabic measure. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the closing quatrain inside a plea, in the form "Derviş Edna'yı". The article glosses "gök" as sky and "bay" as the Old Turkish word for rich.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem is built on the belief that night and dawn are the hours of worship. The refrain addresses the heart: do not lie there, rise and tell God your need, your wish. In the Alevi-Bektashi tradition "hacet dilemek" is to entreat God or a saint with a wish; midnight and the hour before dawn are held to be the fittest times for it. The poem says that the gate of paradise opens at dawn and that whoever rises at midnight to ask his need is the heir of the saints and the friends of God.

The first line works like a proverb: cloth is not sold to one who is no buyer, that is, the word and the truth are offered to those fit for them. The fourth quatrain recalls the nearness of death: one must pray before the black earth falls upon us and before the rivals throw it in our face. In the third quatrain the words "the one who is truly human builds his own building" say that a person builds his spiritual structure through his own labour. The last quatrain recalls that God created both the poor and the rich, and the dervish, naming himself, asks not to be left deprived; the pen name thus becomes the most personal plea of the poem.

Bibliography

Online sources