Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Bir name yazdırdım sevgili yâre
Coş edip selamım alır mı bilmem
Gün be gün artıyor sinemde yâre
Mevlam insafını verir mi bilmem
Aman felek sende düştün kastine
Ayrılık camını sundun dostuna
Ölürsem de kabirimin üstüne
Salınıp naz ile gelir mi bilmem
Derviş’i mest etti aşkın dolusu
Misk-i amber gelir yârin kokusu
Gönlümün tubası cennet hurisi
Hasta hallerimden bilir mi bilmem

In English

1. I had a letter written to my dear beloved; I do not know if he will take my greeting with joy. Day by day the wound in my breast grows; I do not know if the Lord will grant him mercy.

2. Alas, fate, you too have set yourself against me; you offered the cup of separation to the friend. If I die, I do not know whether he will come swaying with grace over my grave.

3. The full cup of love has made the Dervish drunk; the scent of the beloved comes like musk and amber. Tuba tree of my heart, houri of paradise; I do not know if he knows my sickly state.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The three short quatrains carry the same uncertainty in their last lines: the redif "bilmem" (I do not know) is preceded by the questions "alır mı, verir mi, gelir mi, bilir mi" (will he take, will he give, will he come, does he know). In the first quatrain the first and third lines meet on the word "yâre"; the first three lines of the later quatrains rhyme as "kastine, dostuna, üstüne" and "dolusu, kokusu, hurisi". The metre is the eleven-syllable syllabic measure. In the final quatrain the poet names himself simply "Derviş" (his pen name, or mahlas). According to the article the text was corrected by comparing Çevik's collection with the recitation of the informant Hasan Baskın of Harmancık village in Çorum.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The short nefes builds the anxiety of separation on a single question: will the beloved answer this love. The opening words "I had a letter written" are striking; since Derviş Edna is known to have been unable to read and write, having the letter written by someone else agrees with his life. In the same quatrain the word "yâre" occurs twice with two meanings: first "to the beloved", then "wound". Such a pun (cinas) is a device often used in folk poetry.

In the second quatrain fate is blamed as the one who offered the cup of separation. The question whether the beloved will come "swaying with grace" to the grave after death is a familiar image of folk poetry. In the last stanza the beloved's scent is likened to musk and amber, and the beloved to the Tuba tree and a houri of paradise. The love of the dervish made drunk by the cup of love can, as in Derviş Edna's other nefes, be read as turned both towards a person and towards God; the source does not say who the beloved is.

Bibliography

Online sources