Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Gel ey sinem gönül kasavetlenme
İnşallah kurtarır gamdan dediler
Tuttuğun demanını hulüs ile tut
Sevgi muhabbeti candan dediler
Can olan cananı sever derinden
Âşıklar kelamı söyler yerinden
Haber aldım bin Hızır’ın birinden
Arıyon da soran kimden dediler
Kimi kimden soran yüz bin Hızır’ı
Her sancakta vardır bir de hazırı
Muhammed’e vahiy gelen nazırı
Yardım bize elif mim’den dediler
Elif mim ayın’ı oku dersinden
Arifler insanı duyar sesinden
İspat şahit istemezler kimseden
Gine seni senden sorar dediler
Sofu sen sana bak yad ele bakma
Ustaz buyruğundan emrinden çıkma
Berbat hasıl olmaz boş emek çekme
Kemlerin aslını kemden dediler
Kem ile kederi alma araya
Yetmişe yetenler girer sıraya
Cahilin sohbeti gelmez yarıya
Ehilin sohbeti emden dediler
Kul Hüseyin’im emin arar dertliler
Hakikat evinde yerli yurtlular
Ol Hakk’ın indinde hoş kıymetliler
Şen olur müminler şandan dediler

In English

1. Come, my breast, my heart, do not be gloomy; "God willing, He will save you from grief", they said. Keep the fervour to which you are bound with a pure heart; "love and fellowship come from the soul", they said.

2. The one who is a soul loves the beloved deeply; the lovers speak the word from its proper place. I received news from one of a thousand Hızırs; "you are searching, but of whom are you asking", they said.

3. Who asks whom of a hundred thousand Hızırs; in every banner there is one who stands ready. The overseer of the revelation that came to Muhammad; "help comes to us from elif and mim", they said.

4. Read elif, mim and ayın from his lesson; the sages know a person by his voice. They ask no proof or witness of anyone; "it asks you once more of yourself", they said.

5. Zealot, look to yourself, do not look at strangers; do not depart from the precept and command of the master. Ruin yields nothing, do not toil in vain; "the root of evils is in evil", they said.

6. Do not bring evil and sorrow between us; those who reach seventy enter the ranks. The ignorant's conversation does not come halfway; "the conversation of the worthy is a remedy", they said.

7. I am Kul Hüseyin; the suffering seek safety; those settled in the house of truth are greatly prized before God. "The believers rejoice in glory", they said.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The quatrains are linked in a chain: the word at the end of one quatrain is taken up again at the start of the next ("candan, Can olan", "birinden, Kimi kimden", "elif mim'den, Elif mim ayın'ı", "kemden, Kem ile"). Lines two and four end with the redif "dediler" (they said), preceded by "gamdan, candan, kimden, elif mim'den, senden, kemden, emden, şandan" (from grief, from the soul, of whom, from elif and mim, of yourself, in evil, a remedy, in glory). The rhymes of the first and third lines are: "kasavetlenme, hulüs ile tut", "derinden, yerinden, birinden", "Hızır'ı, hazırı, nazırı", "dersinden, sesinden, kimseden", "bakma, çıkma, çekme", "araya, sıraya, yarıya", "dertliler, yurtlular, kıymetliler". The seven quatrains are in the eleven-syllable syllabic metre; Işık classes the text as a nefes. The pen name (mahlas) "Kul Hüseyin'im" can be read in the final quatrain. The informants were Cuma Zeytünlü and Erdoğan Koç.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

With the redif "they said" the deyiş builds a structure that passes on counsel heard from the elders. Işık explains the third line of the first quatrain: "deman" means fervour, desire; "hulüs" purity of heart; the line means "live the path to which you are bound with fervour in purity of heart"; there is another version of the line, "Tuttuğun ikrarın hulüs ile tut" (keep the pledge you hold with a pure heart). The second and third quatrains name Hızır: Hızır, who shows saints the way and comes to the aid of those in distress, stands ready in every banner. The letters elif, mim and ayın recall God, Muhammad and Ali, as is explained in another deyiş of Kul Hüseyin as well.

The fourth and fifth quatrains dwell on self-knowledge. The sages know a person by his voice, ask for no proof or witness, and ask a person about himself. The counsel to the zealot, "look to yourself, do not look at strangers", asks him to turn inward instead of judging others; Işık writes that Kul Hüseyin regarded judging people as a straying from the truth. The article glosses "ustaz" as master, teacher; not departing from the master's precept expresses devotion to the master-apprentice order of the path.

Bibliography

Online sources