Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Kelp ırakiplerden bir söz işittim
Eğer gerçek ise büktü belimi
Dediler yârin yadlara yâr olmuş
Duydunuz mu bize olan zulumü?
Ta ezelden ahdı ikrar güderken
Serbest olup aşka meyil takarken
Arzulayıp ben dostuma giderken
Harami var imiş kesti yolumu
Irakibe bağlamışsın özünü
Otlamışsın süremedim izini
Geyiğine yalatmışsın yüzünü
Yâd ellere koklattın sen gülümü
Coşkun sular gibi çağlayım derdim
Divane gönlümü eyleyim derdim
Dostu bir ikrara bağlayım derdim
Aldırdım elimden zülfü tellimi
Kul Hüseyin’im eydür dost bana netti
Çok iş bilir imiş oynadı üttü
Kıymetim yok imiş bir pula sattı
Adın anıp söyletmiyom dilimi

In English

1. I heard a word from the dog-like rivals; if it is true, it has bent my back. They said my beloved has become the beloved of strangers; have you heard of the wrong done to us.

2. While I kept my covenant and pledge from eternity, while I freely gave my inclination to love, while I went longingly to my friend, it turned out there was a robber; he cut off my road.

3. You have bound your self to the rival; you grazed and went away, I could not follow your trail. You have let your deer lick your face; you let strangers smell my rose.

4. I meant to rush like torrential waters; I meant to soothe my mad heart; I meant to bind the friend to a pledge. I let the stranded lock of hair be taken from my hand.

5. I, Kul Hüseyin, say: what has the friend done to me; it seems he knew many tricks, he played and beat me. It seems I had no worth; he sold me for a coin; I do not let my tongue speak by naming his name.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The even-numbered lines of the quatrains all end on a possessed object and meet on the sound "-ı, -i": "belimi, zulumü, yolumu, gülümü, tellimi, dilimi". The rhymes of the first and third lines run "işittim, olmuş", "güderken, takarken, giderken", "özünü, izini, yüzünü", "derdim, derdim, derdim", "netti, üttü, sattı". All five quatrains are built of eleven-syllable lines; Işık counts the text as a güzelleme. The pen name (mahlas) "Kul Hüseyin'im" is in the closing quatrain. Ali Yüksel of Keçiköy, Âşık Cafer Aydoğdu and Halil Sezgin contributed to the collection. The article glosses "kelp ırakip" as dog-like enemy and "ütmek" as to win at gambling.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem treats a familiar situation of folk poetry: the lover hears from the rivals that the beloved has become the beloved of others and is shaken. The line "if it is true, it has bent my back" conveys this shock through an image of the body. In the second quatrain the lover says that while he was going to his friend, true to the pledge given from eternity, a robber cut off his road; the robber here may be understood as a likeness for the rival or for fate.

The images of the third quatrain come from the life of the region: the beloved "grazing and going away", letting her deer lick her face, letting strangers smell her rose. In the final quatrain the lover says that the friend played with him, beat him as one wins at gambling and sold him for a coin; yet he makes even his reproach without naming the beloved. While in other deyiş of Kul Hüseyin the beloved can often be read as the guide or as God, the language of this deyiş is closer to the reproach of a human love. Işık relates that Kul Hüseyin counted loving a beloved as part of loving God and said that the divine shows itself in the lover's passion.

Bibliography

Online sources