Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Durmaz gönül vatanını arzular
Gelin safa ile gönderin bizi
Mümin müslim himmet eyler gaziler
Gelin safa ile gönderin bizi
Müminin safı güruhu naciler
Yardım eylesin sakkacı sucular
Sohbet ettiğimiz müslim bacılar
Gelin safa ile gönderin bizi
Gerçek âşık söyler gevheri kanlar
Söylensin bu demde sürülen demler
Hayır himmet edin ey sofu canlar
Gelin safa ile gönderin bizi
Âşık kail değil her göle dalmaz
Muhabbetin bahçesinde har olmaz
Ceset gider amma özler ayrılmaz
Gelin safa ile gönderin bizi
Bahri olup kudret ummanın boylan
Hak için dergâha bir niyaz eylen
Çok tuz ekmek yedik hep helal eylen
Gelin safa ile gönderin bizi
Okurum dersimi yazılı sırdan
Âşıkların ilmi İmam Cafer’den
Cümlemizi ayırmasın yaradan
Gelin safa ile gönderin bizi
Kul Hüseyn’im fehm eyledi buradan
Mevla’m ayırmasın demden sıradan
Yine kavuşturur bizi yaradan
Gelin safa ile gönderin bizi

In English

1. The heart cannot rest, it longs for its homeland; come, send us off with joy. The believers, the faithful and the warriors of faith give their blessing; come, send us off with joy.

2. The rank of the believers is the community of the saved; let the water-bearers who serve the water help; and the faithful sisters with whom we conversed. Come, send us off with joy.

3. The true lover speaks and pours out words like jewels; let the moments spent in this hour be told. O pious souls, do good and give your blessing; come, send us off with joy.

4. The lover is not content to dive into every lake; there is no thorn in the garden of fellowship. The body goes, but the essences do not part; come, send us off with joy.

5. Become seafarers, sound the ocean of divine power; for God's sake make a plea at the lodge. We have eaten much salt and bread together, forgive us our due; come, send us off with joy.

6. I read my lesson from the written secret; the knowledge of the lovers is from Imam Cafer. May the Creator not part us all from one another; come, send us off with joy.

7. Kul Hüseyin understood this from here; may my Lord not part us from the hour and the rank. The Creator will unite us again; come, send us off with joy.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The refrain is a wish for a send-off: "Gelin safa ile gönderin bizi" (come, send us off with joy) holds lines two and four of the first quatrain and returns in the fourth line of the six quatrains that follow. In these the first three lines rhyme with one another ("naciler, sucular, bacılar", "kanlar, demler, canlar", "dalmaz, olmaz, ayrılmaz", "boylan, eylen, eylen", "sırdan, Cafer'den, yaradan", "buradan, sıradan, yaradan"). Işık classes the seven quatrains, in the eleven-syllable syllabic metre, as a nefes. In the final quatrain the poet says "Kul Hüseyn'im" (his pen name, or mahlas). The informant is Halil Sezgin.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

This is a poem of sending-off and mutual forgiveness. The lover whose heart longs for its homeland asks the community with which he has been gathered in the cem or in fellowship to send him off with joy. The members of the community are named one by one: the believers of the saved community, those who perform the service of the water-bearer in the cem, the faithful sisters with whom they conversed, and the pious souls. The line in the fifth quatrain, "we have eaten much salt and bread together, forgive us our due", expresses the bond formed by bread eaten together and a shared table, and the custom of releasing one another's claims before parting.

The last line of the fourth quatrain carries the main thought of the deyiş: the body goes, but the essences do not part. This thought also agrees with the legend Işık tells of the heart-to-heart fellowship between Kul Hüseyin and his musahip İbrahim Derviş. The sixth quatrain says that the knowledge of the lovers comes from Imam Cafer; Imam Cafer-i Sadık is the imam regarded in Alevi tradition as the source of the precepts of the path. The last quatrain closes with the hope of reunion.

Bibliography

Online sources