Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Gerçek erdür bu gün ʿâlemde benüm başum içün
Ki vire pîre-zen-i dehre ayaġı yolını

In English

1. By my head, the true man in the world today is the one who shows this old hag of a world the way out (who sends her packing).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The two lines do not rhyme; the couplet must be an inner couplet of a ghazal or a kıta, but the rest of the poem is unknown. Âşık Çelebi gives it on its own after the Turkish ghazal, with the words "Ve lehu", also his. The manuscript of the tezkire designated F lacks the couplet, as a note in the edition records. No metre is stated.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The weight of the couplet lies in two popular idioms. "Benüm başum içün", by my head, is a form of oath; "ayağının yolunu vermek", to give someone the way for his feet, means to send someone away, to get rid of him. The poet ties these everyday expressions to a well-known image of divan poetry: "pîre-zen-i dehr", the old hag of the world. In divan poetry the world is described as an old woman who decks herself out to bind men to her and then consumes them. For Dervîş Çelebi the true man is the one who does not fall for this hag's game but shows her the door. A pious thought praising renunciation of the world is spoken here with the liveliness of street speech.

Historical Context

The couplet is undated. According to Hüsameddin's account, Dervîş Çelebi was dismissed from the judgeship of Kefe at the end of his life, retired and endowed his books to the school he had built; it is tempting to link this couplet in praise of renouncing the world with that decision, but the sources draw no such connection. The records of his judgeships and his endowment are brought together on the page Dervîş Mehmed Çelebi.

Bibliography

Online sources