Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Hani benim ile lokma yiyenler
Halimden bilir bir eşim kalmadı
Şu dertli sineme merhem olacak
Derman olur bir yoldaşım kalmadı
Kadim hilal oldu pirler erişti
Fehimim kısaldı tebdilim şaştı
Yaş da vardı yetmiş ile görüştü
Dayanıp durmaya halim kalmadı
Nice yerde insanlarım var idi
Esti seher yeli döktü eridi
Yüceme kar yağdı aşkım far idi
Tükendi cümbüşüm suçum kalmadı
Dükkân açtım metaım var işimde
İşler bezirgânlar Şam da Urum’da
Bir günlük sevdası varmış serimde
Gayri hamlar ile işim kalmadı
Evvel ağlamışım sonra gülemem
Eşkinim kısaldı menzil alamam
Her lokmanın lezzetini bulamam
Damağım döküldü dişim kalmadı
Kul Hüseyn’im eydür kendi özüme
Uzakları yakın etti gözüme
Evvel şikâr olan derdim bazıma
Şimdi şikâr olan kuşum kalmadı

In English

1. Where now are those who shared their bread with me; no companion is left to me who knows my state. No fellow traveller is left to me to be balm and cure to this grieving breast.

2. My back is bent like a crescent, the pirs have come; my understanding has grown short, my state has changed and wavers. My years too have come to meet seventy; no strength is left to me to stand and endure.

3. In many places I had my people; the dawn wind blew, scattered them and they melted away. Snow fell on my heights; my love was like a lantern; my merriment is spent, no fault of mine is left.

4. I opened a shop, there were wares in my trade; the merchants do business in Damascus and in Rum. It seems there was a passion of a single day in my head; I have no more business with the raw.

5. First I wept, then I cannot laugh; my shoot has grown short, I cannot reach the stopping place. I cannot find the savour of any morsel; my palate has fallen, no teeth are left to me.

6. I, Kul Hüseyin, say to my own self: it has brought far things near to my eye. Once my pain was prey for my falcon; now no bird is left for me to hunt.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Işık describes this nasihatname as "on old age", and the second and fourth lines of its six quatrains count up a loss with the redif "kalmadı" (is left no more): "eşim kalmadı, yoldaşım kalmadı, halim kalmadı, suçum kalmadı, işim kalmadı, dişim kalmadı, kuşum kalmadı". The rhymes of lines one and three run "yiyenler, olacak", "erişti, görüştü", "var idi, far idi", "işimde, serimde", "gülemem, bulamam", "özüme, bazıma". The metre is the eleven-syllable syllabic measure. The last quatrain holds the pen name (mahlas) "Kul Hüseyn'im". The informants were Ali Yüksel of Keçiköy and Cuma Zeytünlü, known as Derviş Dertli Garip. The article glosses "kadim" as back, spine, and "eşkin" as a shoot, a young fresh branch.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In plain language the poem tells of the loneliness and failing strength that old age brings. The first quatrain says that the companions with whom bread was shared have gone and that no companion who understands his state is left. In the following quatrains the signs of old age are listed one by one: the back bent like a crescent, the understanding grown short, snow falling on the heights, merriment spent, teeth fallen, the savour of food no longer found. In the second quatrain the years "meeting seventy" suggest that the poet composed this deyiş at an advanced age; according to the information Işık collected, Kul Hüseyin was born between 1795 and 1800 and died between 1875 and 1885.

The fourth and sixth quatrains sum up life through two separate likenesses. One is from the market: a shop was opened, wares were sold, one mingled in the world of the merchants who go to Damascus and Rum, but all this was a passion of a single day. The other is from hunting: once there were birds for the falcon to take, now no bird is left to hunt. The words of the last quatrain, "it has brought far things near to my eye", say that with old age death and the hereafter have drawn near.

Bibliography

Online sources