Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Fani dünya için gam çekme gönül
Her dem ağlayıp da gülmeli değil
Sevda dedikleri sel misalidir
Fikredip ummana dalmalı değil
Caht etmeyince dağlar aşılmaz
Sarrafın yanında altın pul olmaz
Yiğidin başına gelmez hal olmaz
Başına gelene gülmeli değil
Geçersiz deryayı geçip boylama
Görmediğin yere bühtan eyleme
Bir kimsenin kıymetini (yapmadığın) söyleme
Bühtan edip kana girmeli değil
Hüseyin’im sözün olmuşsa söyle
Varıp etrafında sor sual eyle
Zamane halkının ahvali böyle
Muhabbetsiz yâre varmalı bugün

In English

1. Heart, do not grieve for this passing world; one must not weep at every moment and never laugh. What they call love is like a flood; one must not brood upon it and dive into the ocean.

2. Without striving mountains are not crossed; beside the money-changer gold does not pass for a coin. There is no state that may not befall a brave man; one must not laugh at what befalls another.

3. Do not try to sound the sea that cannot be crossed; do not slander a place you have not seen. Do not speak against a person's worth, of what you have not done; one must not slander and shed blood.

4. My Hüseyin, if you have a word, speak it; go about and ask questions around you. Such is the state of the people of this age; today one should go to the beloved without fellowship (the line stands thus in the source; Işık notes that its meaning may be corrupted).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Counsel is given here in a negative pattern: the second and fourth lines mostly end "-malı değil, -meli değil" (one must not) ("gülmeli değil, dalmalı değil, girmeli değil"), while in the closing quatrain the pattern turns into "varmalı bugün" (one should go today). The rhymes of the first and third lines are built on "gönül, misalidir", "aşılmaz, olmaz", "boylama, eyleme, söyleme", "söyle, eyle, böyle". The four quatrains are in the eleven-syllable syllabic metre; Işık counts the text as a güzelleme. In the final quatrain the pen name (mahlas) appears as "Hüseyin'im". The text was collected from Halil Sezgin, and Işık notes some roughness: there is a confusion of meaning in the third quatrain, where the collection has "kıymetini"; in the last line there may be a corruption of meaning, since a lover would not go to the beloved without fellowship, but this is how the collected text stands. Another form of the same deyiş has been published under Kul Hüseyin's name on a website collecting deyiş, citing Cahit Öztelli's book "Pir Sultan'ın Dostları"; since more than one poet in Anatolia used the same pen name, this overlap should be weighed carefully as regards attribution.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem is built from counsel on the transience of the world and on human conduct. The first quatrain addresses the heart: grieving for the passing world is not worth it, and weeping at every moment is not right either; love comes and goes like a flood, and one must not brood upon it and dive into its depths. In the second quatrain the rules of life are given in words of proverbial weight: without striving mountains are not crossed, beside the money-changer gold does not pass for a coin, there is no state that may not befall a brave man, and therefore one must not laugh at what befalls another.

The third quatrain concentrates on slander: slandering a place one has not seen, trampling on a person's worth, goes at last as far as shedding blood. This counsel agrees with Işık's observation that Kul Hüseyin opposed judging and classifying people. In the last stanza the poet addresses himself: if you have a word, speak it, ask around; such is the state of the people of this age. The meaning of the last line is left disputed in the source as well.

Bibliography

Online sources