Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eight-syllable syllabic metre

Gönül verdim seni sevdim
Aman mürvet dergâhına
Bugün Hakk’ı sende buldum
Aman mürvet dergâhına
Dergâhına giden yollar
Seni tespih eden diller
Hak sevdiği gonca güller
Aman mürvet dergâhına
Dergâhından kesmem elim
Kıblemden çevirmem yönüm
Çağırır Muhammed Ali’m
Aman mürvet dergâhına
Kul Hüseyin’im zatım ile
Buldum muhabbetim ile
Geldim günah yüküm ile
Aman mürvet dergâhına

In English

1. I gave my heart, I loved you; mercy, I have taken refuge at the court of grace. Today I found God in you; mercy, to the court of grace.

2. The roads that lead to your court, the tongues that glorify you, the rosebuds that God loves; mercy, to the court of grace.

3. I will not cut my hand from your court, I will not turn my face from my direction of prayer; my Muhammad Ali calls me. Mercy, to the court of grace.

4. I, Kul Hüseyin, found you with my essence and with my love; I have come with my load of sins. Mercy, to the court of grace.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Short lines of eight syllables give this four-quatrain nefes a shape that is easy to memorise and suited to being sung like a hymn. The refrain "Aman mürvet dergâhına" (mercy, to the court of grace) holds the even-numbered lines of the first quatrain and then returns in the fourth line of each quatrain. The lines in between rhyme as follows: "yollar, diller, güller", "elim, yönüm, Ali'm", and in the closing quatrain "ile" three times. Işık counts the text among the nefes. The pen name (mahlas) "Kul Hüseyin'im" stands in the final quatrain. The deyiş was collected from Ali Yüksel of Keçiköy and Halil Sezgin.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

"Mürvet" is the popular form of the word mürüvvet and means generosity, humanity, helpfulness; the "court of mürüvvet" is the sacred door at which pardon and help are begged. From beginning to end the deyiş speaks the language of taking refuge at this door. The line in the first quatrain, "today I found God in you", reflects an important side of Alevi-Bektashi thought: God appears in the perfected human being, in the guide and in the beloved. Whether the beloved is a guide, Ali or God Himself, the poem leaves open.

The second quatrain lists the roads leading to the court, the tongues that glorify it and the rosebuds God loves; in this poetic tradition the rose is an image that recalls both the beloved and the Prophet Muhammad. In the third quatrain the words "I will not turn my face from my direction of prayer" say that devotion is as unchanging as the qibla of the ritual prayer. In the last stanza the poet, without making himself out to be worthy, confesses that he has come "with my load of sins"; this humility suits, as Işık writes of Kul Hüseyin, a poet who called himself by the name "Kul" (servant) although he was regarded as a saint with wondrous powers.

Bibliography

Online sources