Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Ben de şu dünyada üç güzel gördüm
Birisi kalbimde durana benzer
Birisi Ali’dir biri Muhammed
Dört kitap içinde Kur’an’a benzer
Yaz gelince sular köpükler saçar
Laleli sümbüllü bahçeler açar
Avcıdan kurtulmuş ceylanlar kaçar
Pirim şu ellerde ceylana benzer
Müminin gönlünden gitmiyor sızı
Cennette huriye benziyor özü
İki dinli hercainin bek sözü
Mart ayında esen borana benzer
Müminler kıblesi kıble necidir
Eşiğine varan daim hacıdır
Pek basma sapana boynun acıtır
Durdurup zelveyi kırana benzer
Hey der Hüseyin’im geldik haneye
Atamın belinden geldim anaya
Mevla’m destur verdi geldim dünyaya
Dünya bir yıkılmış virana benzer

In English

1. I too have seen three beauties in this world; one is like the one who dwells in my heart. One is Ali, one Muhammad; among the four books it is like the Qur'an.

2. When summer comes the waters scatter foam, gardens open with tulips and hyacinths, gazelles saved from the hunter take flight; in these lands my pir is like a gazelle.

3. The ache does not leave the believer's heart; his essence is like a houri in paradise. The evil word of the two-faithed, fickle one is like the blizzard that blows in March.

4. What kind of qibla is the qibla of the believers; whoever reaches its threshold is a pilgrim for ever. Do not press too hard on the yoke-bar, it hurts the neck; it is like one who stops and breaks the yoke-peg.

5. Hey, says my Hüseyin, we have come to the house; from my father's loins I came to my mother. My Lord gave leave and I came into the world; the world is like a ruin fallen down.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Likeness is the frame of this nefes: each quatrain ends on the redif "benzer" (is like), and before it come in turn "durana, Kur'an'a, ceylana, borana, kırana, virana" (the one who dwells, the Qur'an, a gazelle, a blizzard, one who breaks, a ruin). The first three lines rhyme among themselves: "saçar, açar, kaçar", "sızı, özü, sözü", "necidir, hacıdır, acıtır", "haneye, anaya, dünyaya". The lines have eleven syllables, and there are five quatrains; Işık counts the text as a nefes. In the closing quatrain the poet says only "Hüseyin'im" (his pen name, or mahlas). The text was handed down by Halil Sezgin. The article glosses "bek söz" as a bad, destructive word and "zelve" as the bent peg passed through the yoke so that the ox does not slip out.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first quatrain of the deyiş is the one Işık quotes when describing Kul Hüseyin's thought. According to Işık the poet here points to three beauties that give meaning and form to existence, God, Muhammad and Ali, and says that their proof is the Qur'an among the four books. Işık adds that in the gatherings the word "Kur'an" is used both for the written scripture and in the sense of "that which builds, forms, makes". The same image also appears in Kul Fakir's deyiş "Seyrimde gezerken üç dilber gördüm", published on our site; since Kul Fakir is known to have been an âşık devoted to Kul Hüseyin, the likeness between the two deyiş suggests the influence of master on apprentice, a connection that is our interpretation.

The other quatrains move forward through images from village life: summer waters scattering foam, gardens of tulips, the gazelle fleeing the hunter, the March blizzard, the bar and the peg of the yoke. The likeness of the pir to a gazelle expresses that he is seen as a shy, hard-to-reach and sacred being. The fourth quatrain says that the true qibla of the believer is the threshold of the pir and that whoever reaches it counts for ever as a pilgrim. The last quatrain gives the coming of man into the world as a short account of birth and, likening the world to a ruin fallen down, recalls its transience.

Bibliography

Online sources