Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: seven-syllable syllabic metre

Bahçelerde zerdali
Nerden gelyon zır deli
Günde Hakk yanında da
Yine gözü perdeli

In English

1. There are apricots in the gardens; you crazy one, where are you coming from. Every day you are at God's side, and still your eyes are veiled.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The quatrain consists of four seven-syllable lines; the second and fourth lines rhyme on "deli, perdeli", and "zerdali" in the first line joins the rhyme with the same sound. The first line, as often in the mani form, is an opening that carries no essential meaning and prepares the rhyme. The metre is not stated in the source; the syllable count is ours. In the article the lines are given joined in pairs by a slash; here they have been divided into four lines. The pen name does not appear in the quatrain; the article gives it as words Derviş Edna spoke to his mother.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The article tells the story of how this quatrain was spoken. Although people believed in Derviş Edna's wonders, those around him did not become attached to him; even his mother, the closest to him, did not recognise him. One day, when his mother told him that she was living the last moments of her life and had long not been in the company of a "gerçek", a true one, a saint, Derviş Edna answered her with this quatrain. According to the article the poet was thereby saying that his mother still did not recognise him and that her eyes were veiled.

The craft of the quatrain lies in its short, reproachful language. "Where are you coming from, you crazy one" is a half-joking scolding in the local dialect. The real sting lies in the last two lines: the mother is every day at God's side, that is, she lives beside her son, who is a saint, but because her eyes are veiled she cannot see it. The article uses this quatrain as evidence when it relates that Derviş Edna's worth was not known in his own village and within his own family. According to the same account his mother died some time later, and Derviş Edna spoke words about her in keeping with local belief.

Bibliography

Online sources