Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Sinem alev alev yandıktan sonra
Ben feleğe küstüm barışmam gayrı
Gözüm yaşı sel sel indikten sonra
Ben feleğe küstüm barışmam gayrı
Vücudum şehrinde koptu zelzele
Koymadı yâr ile gezem el ele
Aklım aldı beni düşürdü dile
Ben feleğe küstüm barışmam gayrı
Oturmuş gemiye elde dümeni
Güldürmez yüzümü garip sinemi
Dağıttı yuvamı fakir hanemi
Ben feleğe küstüm barışmam gayrı
Dost bağında dertli koyun meliyor
Meledikçe sesi sinem deliyor
Felek kalbur almış adam eliyor
Ben feleğe küstüm barışmam gayrı
Kul Hüseyin’im felek neyleyim sana
Ne suçum var idi kahrettin bana
Bende sığınırım merdi merdana
Ben feleğe küstüm barışmam gayrı

In English

1. After my breast has burned in flames, I have fallen out with fate, I will not make peace again. After the tears of my eyes have run in floods, I have fallen out with fate, I will not make peace again.

2. An earthquake broke out in the city of my body; it did not let me walk hand in hand with my beloved. It took my mind and made me the talk of the people; I have fallen out with fate, I will not make peace again.

3. Fate has sat down in the ship with the helm in its hand; it does not let my face or my poor breast smile. It has scattered my nest, my humble home; I have fallen out with fate, I will not make peace again.

4. In the Friend's vineyard a grieving sheep is bleating; the more it bleats, the more its voice pierces my breast. Fate has taken a sieve in its hand and sifts people; I have fallen out with fate, I will not make peace again.

5. I am Kul Hüseyin; fate, what shall I do with you; what was my crime that you have crushed me. I take refuge in the bravest of the brave; I have fallen out with fate, I will not make peace again.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poet has fallen out with fate and writes it into the refrain: "Ben feleğe küstüm barışmam gayrı" (I have fallen out with fate, I will not make peace again) is repeated in the second and fourth lines of the first quatrain and in the fourth line of the rest. Lines one and three of the first quatrain share one pattern, "yandıktan sonra, indikten sonra" (after it burned, after it flowed). Elsewhere the first three lines rhyme with one another ("zelzele, ele, dile", "dümeni, sinemi, hanemi", "meliyor, deliyor, eliyor", "sana, bana, merdana"). The metre of the five quatrains is the eleven-syllable syllabic measure; Işık counts the text as a güzelleme. The pen name (mahlas) "Kul Hüseyin'im" can be read in the last stanza. The informants were Âşık Cafer Aydoğdu, Halil Sezgin and another name on Işık's list.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In folk poetry fate (felek) is named as the power that turns a person's fortune, often a merciless one; minstrels reproach fate and settle accounts with it. Kul Hüseyin's deyiş is a strong example of this tradition: the poet says he has fallen out with fate and will never make peace with it again. The deeds of fate are listed in concrete images: an earthquake breaking out in the city of the body, preventing him from walking hand in hand with his beloved, holding the helm of the ship, scattering a humble home, taking a sieve in its hand and sifting people.

The image of the grieving sheep in the fourth quatrain seems taken from a shepherd's life; according to the accounts Işık collected, Kul Hüseyin worked all his life as a shepherd and farmer. The likeness of sifting with a sieve is a familiar expression of popular speech for death and fortune separating people one by one. In the last quatrain the poet asks fate, "what was my crime", and takes refuge in the "merd-i merdan", the bravest of the brave, that is, Ali; the complaint thus closes with a word of surrender and refuge.

Bibliography

Online sources