Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Her neyi ararsan vardır bu demde
Velâgat keremna ben-i ademde
Uzaktan arama, fark et sen sende
Bir pınardan bin deryayı süzen var
Cümlenin mabutu Hak sende hazır
Vezirlikten geçip olursun nazır
Her nereye baksan görünen hızır
Yer nazarda dü cihanı gezen var
Cümle aradığın vardır ademde
Arayıp bulanlar demezler bende
Görenlerde der ki, ne olur şunda
Dört Kitap’ı derceyleyip yazan var
Okuyup ilmine âmil olanlar
Seni fark etmez mi kendin görenler
Mümin müslim böyle mi olur erenler
Günde yüzbin, tarikinden azan var
Gerçek olan belli olur işinden
Dost dosta varamaz gönül kışından
Halım yaman oldu adu taşından
Ebu Cehil gibi kuyu kazan var
Erenler sevmezler yoldan azanı
Bu ceme almazlar ıkrar bozanı
Gerçek erler fark etmez mi düzeni
Sen demeden diyeceğini sezen var
KUL FAKIR’ım taş atan kendine atar
Herkesin attığı kendini tutar
Sabreden kulların didara yeter
Kırklar meclisinde engür ezen var

In English

1. Whatever you seek is here in this moment; the secret of "We have honoured the children of Adam" is in man. Do not search far off, perceive what is in yourself; there is one who strains a thousand seas from a single spring.

2. God, the object of all worship, is present in you; passing beyond being a vizier you become one who beholds. Wherever you look, the one who appears is Hızır. The last line is unclear; it can be read as meaning that there is one who travels the two worlds in a single glance.

3. All that you seek is in man; those who search and find do not say "it is in me". And those who see say, what is there in this one; there is one who gathers the four books together and writes them.

4. Do those who read and act on their knowledge, those who see themselves, not perceive you? Erens, is this how a believer and Muslim should be; every day a hundred thousand stray from the path.

5. The true one is known by his deeds; in the winter of the heart the friend cannot reach the friend. My state has grown grievous from the enemy's stones; there are those who dig wells like Abu Jahl.

6. The erens do not love one who strays from the path; they do not admit to this cem one who breaks his vow. Do the true erens not perceive the scheme; there is one who senses what you will say before you say it.

7. I am Kul Fakır; the one who throws a stone throws it at himself, the stone each one throws comes back to strike him. Servants who are patient attain the face of God; in the Assembly of the Forty there is one who presses the grape.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The deyiş is a koşma of seven quatrains in the eleven-syllable syllabic metre; three lines have twelve syllables. The last line of each quatrain ends with the redif "var" (there is); the words before the redif, "süzen, gezen, yazan, azan, kazan, sezen, ezen", form the rhyme. In each quatrain the first three lines rhyme among themselves: "demde, ademde, sende", "hazır, nazır, hızır" and so on. The syllable count is ours. The pen name appears in the last quatrain. When the deyiş was sung is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first three quatrains of the deyiş work out a basic idea of Alevi-Bektashi thought: everything sought is in man himself. The words "Velekad kerremnâ benî Âdem" are the beginning of the verse in the sura Isra stating that the children of Adam have been honoured. The image of "one who strains a thousand seas from a single spring" expresses that boundless knowledge can be drawn from a single source. The words "Dört Kitap'ı derceyleyip yazan" in the third quatrain likewise point to the idea that the Torah, the Psalms, the Gospel and the Qur'an are gathered together in man.

In the following quatrains the deyiş shifts to a tone of counsel and reproach. Fatih Çelebi reads the lines "Gerçek olan belli olur işinden / Dost dosta varamaz gönül kışından" as a place where the âşık draws attention to the difficulty of the road to God and says that there should be no evil in a person's heart. Abu Jahl is remembered in Islamic tradition as the Prophet's greatest enemy; the idiom "to dig a well" means to set a trap for another. The sixth quatrain mentions the cem and the vow: in the Alevi social order one who breaks his vow is excluded from the cem.

The line "Kırklar meclisinde engür ezen var" in the last quatrain refers to the story of the Assembly of the Forty in the Alevi-Bektashi tradition. According to this story the Prophet, returning from the Ascension, joined the assembly of the Forty, where a single grape that was brought was pressed and its juice shared among the forty, and all of them reached the same ecstasy. This story is regarded as the origin of the cem ceremony; the âşık closes his deyiş with this scene of unity.

Bibliography

Books

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