Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Hey şahin bakışlım bülbül avazlım
Bir eli kadehlim bir eli sazlım
İşte ben gidiyom kal ahu gözlüm
Ne sen beni unut ne de ben seni
Yolda harami çok engel arada
Unutma sevdiğim demde sırada
Kalıp gider amma gönül burada
Ne sen beni unut ne de ben seni
Ta ezel ezelden seven sevende
Şu iki cihanda köhne mekân da
Nizam başlarında ulu divanda
Ne sen beni unut ne de ben seni
Çekilsin gülbenkler sürülsün devran
Görülsün ayıplar açılsın meydan
Yolumuzu açar ol Şahı Merdan
Ne sen beni unut ne de ben seni
Kul Hüseyin’im eder gül benzim soluk
Serimize yazılmıştır ayrılık
Vallahi sevdiğim gönüller birlik
Ne sen beni unut ne de ben seni

In English

1. Hey, you with the falcon's glance and the nightingale's voice, a cup in one hand and a saz in the other. Here I am going; stay, my gazelle-eyed one; neither forget me nor I you.

2. On the road there are many robbers and obstacles between us; my love, do not forget me in the hour of fellowship or in the ranks. I rise and go, but my heart is here; neither forget me nor I you.

3. From eternity the lover is in the beloved; in these two worlds, in this ancient dwelling, at the head of the order, at the great court; neither forget me nor I you.

4. Let the prayers be recited, let the circle be danced; let faults be seen, let the square be opened. Şah-ı Merdan opens our road; neither forget me nor I you.

5. I, Kul Hüseyin, say my rose face is pale; separation is written upon our heads. By God, my love, our hearts are one; neither forget me nor I you.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The authorship of the deyiş is disputed. A website that publishes Kul Hüseyin's deyiş states that "Ey şahin bakışlım bülbül avazlım" is sung as a semah, that it is the most often confused deyiş, and that although attributed to Kul Hüseyin for years it originally belongs to Hüseyin Fevzi Efendi, one of the çelebis of Hacı Bektaş; the source on which this view rests is not given. Işık, for his part, collected the text from the accounts of Erdoğan Koç and Halil Sezgin and publishes it as a semah among Kul Hüseyin's deyiş. All five quatrains are built of eleven-syllable lines, and each closes on the refrain "Ne sen beni unut ne de ben seni" (neither forget me nor I you). The first three lines rhyme among themselves: "avazlım, sazlım, gözlüm", "arada, sırada, burada", "sevende, mekânda, divanda", "devran, meydan, merdan", "soluk, ayrılık, birlik". The last quatrain holds the pen name (mahlas) "Kul Hüseyin'im".

Meaning and Figures of Speech

This is a poem of farewell. The beloved addressed has a falcon's glance and a nightingale's voice and holds a cup in one hand and a saz in the other; these images also suggest a community offering the cup and playing the saz in the cem. The lover must go; on the road there are robbers and obstacles, but his heart stays behind. The refrain turns this parting into a mutual compact: neither forget me nor I you.

The fourth quatrain passes into the language of the semah and the cem: the gülbanks, the communal prayers, are recited, the devran, that is, the semah, is danced, the square is opened. The seeing of faults describes the airing and recognition of people's failings before the community in the cem. The "Şah-ı Merdan" who will open the road is Ali. In the final quatrain separation is accepted as written upon the brow, but the unity of hearts is stressed. Whatever the dispute about its attribution, the deyiş was sung in the cem of Gaziler Ovacığı under Kul Hüseyin's name and was collected among his deyiş.

Bibliography

Online sources