Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Ey benim efendim adil hünkârım
Derman eyle bu dert bizi almadan
Gece gündüz ahu figandır karım
Aşk ateşi şu sinemi delmeden
Bu dert bizim ile bile gelmiştir
Ben bilirim bana benden olmuştur
Kömür gözlüm bilmem sana nolmuştur
Ağlayıp gezersin dahi gülmeden
Bayram gelir kanlı kinli barışır
Herkes yâriyinen bulur görüşür
Hasretlik çeken de yanar alışır
Ölüm yeğ değil mi böyle ölmeden
İntizarım ala gözlü dostuma
Acep ırakibin bize kasti ne
Kabir kuyusunda ulaş üstüme
Üstüm toprak olup yerim kalmadan
Gam değildir efendimi bulursam
Bulamayıp yollarında kalırsam
Ömrüm yetip bu dünyadan olursam
Kaldırman Hüseyin’i yâr gelmeden

In English

1. O my master, my just Hünkâr, cure this pain before it takes us. Night and day my work is sighing and lament; cure it before the fire of love pierces this breast.

2. This pain came into the world together with us; I know it, it came to me from myself. My coal-eyed one, I do not know what has befallen you; you go about weeping without ever smiling.

3. The holiday comes and those in blood feud make peace; everyone meets and sees his beloved. The one who suffers longing burns and grows used to it; is not death better than dying in this way.

4. I await my hazel-eyed friend; I wonder what the rival intends against us. Reach me in the pit of the grave before the earth lies upon me and no place is left for me.

5. It is no grief if I find my master. If I do not find him and remain upon his roads, if my life runs out and I leave this world, do not carry Hüseyin away before the beloved comes.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Throughout the poem the suffix "-madan, -meden" (before) carries the anxiety of arriving before something happens; lines two and four of the quatrains rhyme on it: "almadan, delmeden, gülmeden, ölmeden, kalmadan, gelmeden". The first and third lines are linked as well ("hünkârım, karım", "gelmiştir, olmuştur, nolmuştur", "barışır, görüşür, alışır", "dostuma, kasti ne, üstüme", "bulursam, kalırsam, olursam"). The five quatrains are in the eleven-syllable syllabic metre; Işık classes the deyiş as a güzelleme. In the closing quatrain the poet speaks of himself in the third person, and his pen name (mahlas) takes the form "Hüseyin'i". The text was collected from the informant Halil Sezgin.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

It opens with a plea: the lover asks his master, whom he calls "my just Hünkâr", to cure his pain before the fire of love pierces his breast. In the Alevi-Bektashi tradition Hünkâr is the title given to Hacı Bektaş Velî, but here it can also be understood as an address to a guide or a beloved. The second quatrain says that pain is born together with man and springs from man himself; the "coal-eyed" beloved appears as one who suffers, weeping without smiling.

The third quatrain sets up a strong contrast: when the holiday comes those who are at odds make peace and everyone meets the one he loves; but whoever suffers longing burns and grows used to it. The line "is not death better than dying in this way" shows separation as a state heavier than death. In the last two quatrains the lover thinks of the pit of the grave and makes a last wish: if he dies, his body should not be carried away before the beloved comes. This wish is a familiar image in folk poetry expressing the desire to see the beloved one last time, and it gives the deyiş a moving close.

Bibliography

Online sources