Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Gezdim şu âlemi bir kez gülmedim
Çok imiş kusurum dahi bilmedim
Şu dünyanın bir sefasın sürmedim
Nazlı yarden ayrı düştüm ağladım
Yâri olmayanın yarası yoktur
Sadık dost olanın ervahı paktır
Dinleyin ariften söyleten hak’tır
Nazlı yarden ayrı düştüm ağladım
Vermişim meylimi merdoğlu merde
Sabreyle hey gönül dayan bu derde
Ezelden verilmiş ikrarlar nerde
Nazlı yarden ayrı düştüm ağladım
İkrarını bilen imanın bilir
Yaradan cümlenin gönlünce verir
Sağ olan başlara gör neler gelir
Nazlı yarden ayrı düştüm ağladım
DERVİŞOĞLU çeker ayrılık derdi
Dost bize bir kelam bergüzar verdi
Satıcı sarraftır alanlar erdi
Nazlı yarden ayrı düştüm ağladım

In English

1. I have wandered this world and not once did I laugh; my faults were many, yet I did not even know them. I never once enjoyed the pleasures of this world; I was parted from my graceful beloved and I wept.

2. He who has no beloved has no wound either; the soul of the faithful friend is pure. Listen: it is God who speaks through the mouth of the wise; I was parted from my graceful beloved and I wept.

3. I have given my heart to a true man, son of a true man; be patient, O heart, endure this pain. Where are the vows given in pre-eternity now? I was parted from my graceful beloved and I wept.

4. He who knows his vow (ikrar) knows his faith; the Creator gives to each according to his heart. See what befalls those who remain alive; I was parted from my graceful beloved and I wept.

5. Dervişoğlu bears the pain of separation; the Friend gave us a word as a keepsake. The seller is a jeweller (sarraf), and those who buy are the saints (erenler); I was parted from my graceful beloved and I wept.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The deyiş is a koşma of five quatrains in the eleven-syllable syllabic metre (the syllable count is ours). In the first quatrain the first three lines rhyme on "gülmedim, bilmedim, sürmedim"; in the following quatrains the first three lines again rhyme among themselves ("yoktur, paktır, hak'tır"; "merde, derde, nerde"; "bilir, verir, gelir"; "derdi, verdi, erdi"). Every quatrain closes with the unchanged line "Nazlı yarden ayrı düştüm ağladım", which binds the poem like a refrain. The pen name appears in the last quatrain. When the deyiş was composed is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The subject is separation, yet the "graceful beloved" cannot be read only as a worldly sweetheart. In the third quatrain the heart is said to be bound to "a true man, son of a true man", and the vows given in pre-eternity are mentioned at once; on the Alevi-Bektashi path the ikrar is the vow a seeker gives to his spiritual guide and to the path. The grief of separation can therefore also be read as the grief of being far from a guide or from one's companions on the path. The line "He who knows his vow knows his faith" in the fourth quatrain is a brief statement of a view that equates the ethics of the path with faith itself.

The last quatrain shows how the minstrel regards his own words. The word left by the Friend is a trust; the one who sells it is a jeweller, and those who buy it are the saints. The image of the jeweller and his goods is used in folk poetry to say that precious speech is not given to everyone and reaches only those who know its worth. The line "it is God who speaks through the mouth of the wise" in the second quatrain likewise shows that the minstrel does not regard his words as his own invention but as something God causes him to say.

Bibliography

Academic studies

Books

  • Ali Cem Akbulut, Gazilerovacığı Âşıkları, Istanbul: KaraMavi Yayınları, 2010; text: "Dervişoğlu", Alevi Deyişleri Nefesler Hakk Âşıkları, 21 August 2019, poem no. 1. https://www.deyisler-nefesler.com/dervisoglu/

Online sources