Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Gönül sen kendini arif mi sandın
Doğruca bir kelam söyleyemezsin
Cahiller sözüne inandın kaldın
Sen kendini ehil eyleyemezsin
Düz yolda yürümez sarpa kaçarsın
Varıp bir cahile sırrın açarsın
Umman durur iken çaydan geçersin
Bir derin deryayı boylayamazsın
Daima mihmandır insan bu handa
Cümlemiz misafir kevn ü mekânda
Yaramaz eşyayı satma dükkânda
Dosta hayır amel taylayamazsın
Hayır amel ariflerde bulunur
Gün gibi her daim doğar dolunur
Âdem olan kemalinden bilinir
Aşk oduna sinen dağlayamazsın
İmdat kılın DERVİŞOĞLU kulunuz
Kurban olam pek yeğindir haliniz
Gidiyom usanıp kalın yalınız
Usanır yaylada yaylayamazsın

In English

1. O heart, did you take yourself for a gnostic (arif)? You cannot speak a single true word. You believed the words of the ignorant and stayed there; you cannot make yourself competent.

2. You do not walk the level road, you run off to the steep places; you go and open your secret to an ignorant man. With the ocean before you, you wade across a stream; you cannot sound the depths of a deep sea.

3. Man is always a guest in this inn of the world; all of us are visitors in the realm of being. Do not sell worthless goods in your shop; you cannot load and bring good deeds to the Friend.

4. Good deeds are found among the wise; like the sun they rise and fill out at every moment. A true human being is known by his maturity; you cannot brand your breast with the fire of love.

5. Come to the aid of your servant Dervişoğlu; may I be your sacrifice, your state is far above mine. I am leaving in weariness, you stay on alone; once one grows weary, one cannot summer in the highland pasture.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a koşma of five quatrains composed in the eleven-syllable metre (the syllable count is ours). The fourth line of every quatrain ends in the suffix "-(y)emezsin, -(y)amazsın" ("you cannot": "söyleyemezsin, eyleyemezsin, boylayamazsın, taylayamazsın, dağlayamazsın, yaylayamazsın"); this suffix acts as the redif, and the stems before it, "söyle-, eyle-, boyla-, tayla-, dağla-, yayla-", carry the rhyme. The first quatrain has cross rhyme ("sandın, kaldın"); in the others the first three lines rhyme among themselves. The pen name appears in the last quatrain.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The deyiş is a stern rebuke the minstrel addresses to his own heart. The heart takes itself for a gnostic, yet it has been deceived by the words of the ignorant; it leaves the level road for the steep places and opens its secret to the unworthy. In the Alevi-Bektashi tradition not opening one's secret to the uninitiated is a basic rule of conduct, and the deyiş recalls it in a list of failings. The line "With the ocean before you, you wade across a stream" is a fine contrast for leaving the great source of knowledge and contenting oneself with the shallow.

In the third quatrain the world is an inn and man its guest; this is a common folk-poetry image for death and transience. The shop and its goods describe the good deeds to be offered to the Friend, that is, to God, prepared like a load; "taylamak" means tying a load in two evenly balanced halves. In the last quatrain the minstrel turns to the wise, asks for their favour, and says he is leaving them in weariness. The image of the highland pasture in the last line recalls a folk saying that one who has grown weary can stay content in no fair place.

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. 5. https://www.deyisler-nefesler.com/dervisoglu/

Online sources