Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

İmdat senden kaldı urumun eri
Gaip erenlerin Horasan piri
Muallak’ta tuttu babı Hayberi
Cenkte Muhammed’e car eden medet
Balım Sultan gerçek sırrı Ali’sin
Müminlerin kardeşisin kolusun
Pirim Hacı Bektaş şahı Veli’sin
Cansız duvarları yürüten medet
Kul Hüseyin’im der ki gönle değmeyin
Giderip yükünü alıp yığmayın
Sırlarınız gönlünüzde saklayın
Mümin’in kalbinde yer eden medet

In English

1. Man of Rum, help is now left to you; pir of Khorasan of the hidden saints. You who held the gate of Khaybar in the air, who came to Muhammad's aid in battle, help.

2. Balım Sultan, you are Ali, the true secret; you are the brother and the arm of the believers. My pir Hacı Bektaş, you are the Shah's saint; you who made lifeless walls walk, help.

3. I, Kul Hüseyin, say: do not wound the heart; do not take away its load and heap it up. Keep your secrets in your hearts; you who make your place in the believer's heart, help.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Each of the three short quatrains ends in a cry for aid: the last lines take the form "eden medet" or "-en medet" (you who did ..., help), "car eden medet, yürüten medet, yer eden medet". Işık accordingly classes the text as a medetname. The rhymes of the first three lines are built on "eri, piri, Hayberi", "Ali'sin, kolusun, Veli'sin", "değmeyin, yığmayın, saklayın". The metre is the eleven-syllable syllabic measure. In the closing quatrain the poet says "Kul Hüseyin'im" (his pen name, or mahlas). The text rests on the account of one of Işık's informants.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem turns in order to the great figures of the Alevi-Bektashi tradition: Hacı Bektaş, called the man of Rum and the pir of Khorasan, Ali, who held the gate of Khaybar in the air and came to Muhammad's aid in battle, and Balım Sultan, counted the second pir of the Bektashi path. In the second quatrain Balım Sultan being called "you are Ali, the true secret" reflects the belief that the saints carry Ali's secret.

The line "you who made lifeless walls walk" recalls a well-known wonder attached to Hacı Bektaş. Işık adds an important note on this line: the story of making a lifeless wall walk is in fact a wonder of Koca Bektaş Dede, but owing to the likeness of names it has been credited to Hacı Bektaş. According to Işık, when a saint is exalted in the eyes of the people the deeds of other saints are also attached to him, and so many wonders come to be told under the names of many saints. In the final quatrain the poet returns to counsel: not wounding the heart and keeping the secret in the heart. This counsel repeats the principle of keeping the secret seen often in Kul Hüseyin's other deyiş.

Bibliography

Online sources