Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Cennet mekân Kul Hüseyin Dedem’den
Elestü’den âşık oldum nura ben
Bir bezirgân gelir Hint’ten Yemen’den
Kervan ile bile kondum yola ben
Elif mim yazıldı arşın burcuna
Dört kitap yazılmış anın dercinden
Bir güzeli sevdiğimin suçundan
Mansur gibi kail oldum dara ben
Dost yolunda aştığında kış değil
Dosta âşık olan kişi boş değil
Garip başım ikilikten hoş değil
Ta ezelden meyil verdim pire ben
Delürürüm yüzün görmeyeceğiz
Açılmış güllerin dermeyeceğiz
Sen yarama merhem sarmayıncağız
Daha kimden bulum derde çare ben
Kul Hüseyin yârin yarasın çeker
Yâr yarasın çeken mülayim bakar
Darılmış gül yüzlüm kaşların yıkar
Varın söylen ne demişim yâre ben

In English

1. From Kul Hüseyin Dede, whose dwelling is paradise (this line was reconstructed later, according to the source); since Elest I have been in love with the light. A merchant comes from India and from Yemen; I too set out on the road together with the caravan.

2. Elif and mim were written on the tower of the Throne; the four books were written from what it holds. For the crime of loving a beauty, I too, like Mansur, accepted the gallows.

3. What you cross on the road of the Friend is no winter; one who loves the Friend is not empty. My poor head takes no pleasure in duality; from eternity I gave my inclination to the pir.

4. I go mad, we will not see your face; we will not gather your opened roses. Unless you bind balm upon my wound, from whom else shall I find a cure for my pain.

5. Kul Hüseyin bears the wound of the beloved; one who bears the beloved's wound looks gently. My rose-faced one is offended and knits her brows; go and tell her what I have said to the beloved.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The real first line of the deyiş has been lost. According to Işık a mention of Kul Hüseyin took its place, and the line was reconstructed as "Cennet mekân Kul Hüseyin Dedem'den", stating that the deyiş is his; for this reason the second line is used in the title. The last lines of the five quatrains end on the word "ben" (I) ("nura ben, yola ben, dara ben, pire ben, çare ben, yâre ben"). The rhymes of the first three lines: "Dedem'den, Yemen'den", "burcuna, dercinden, suçundan", "kış değil, boş değil, hoş değil", "görmeyeceğiz, dermeyeceğiz, sarmayıncağız", "çeker, bakar, yıkar". The metre is the eleven-syllable syllabic measure, and the genre, according to Işık, the nefes. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the final quatrain as "Kul Hüseyin". The article glosses "dercetmek" as to arrange, to gather, and "delürürüm" as I go mad. The informant is Halil Sezgin.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Love is traced back to eternity: the lover has loved the light since Elest. The merchant from India and Yemen, a trading caravan, is the image of a call coming from distant lands; the lover too joins the caravan and sets out. In the second quatrain the letters elif and mim written on the tower of the Throne are, in Alevi-Bektashi interpretation, letters that recall God and Muhammad, sometimes Ali and Muhammad; the four books are said to have been written from what it holds. Accepting the gallows like Mansur for the crime of loving a beauty refers to Hallac-ı Mansur, executed for saying "I am the Truth", and expresses accepting the price of love even at the cost of death.

In the third quatrain the "poor head" that takes no pleasure in duality voices the idea of unity as a personal stance; the lover has inclined to the pir since eternity. The last two quatrains return to the language of the folk love poem: not seeing the beloved's face, not gathering her roses, awaiting balm for the wound and not finding it. The last line, "go and tell her what I have said to the beloved", shows that the lover cannot reach the beloved directly and must send his word through others.

Bibliography

Online sources