Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Cemalini gördüm sarhoşun oldum
Kanamadım dostun hüsnü meyine
Pirimi gördüm de ürüşan oldum
Aşnan olsam hünerinden huyuna
Hüneri huyundan hissesi çoktur
Gerçeğin kelamı gerçektir haktır
Naciden olanın ervahı paktır
Haber aldım elif mimden ayından
Elif Allah Muhammed ayn Ali’dir
Hakikatte şahı merdan Ali’dir
Haktır Ehli beyit seni eridir
Hacı olur sultan hakkı payından
Haki payda mübah tazim mürüvvet
Mazlumda Salih’te hak ile hürmet
Şeriatı hatmedince tarikat
Yüzer oynar marifetin suyunda
Kul Hüseyn’im marifeti söylesem
Hakikatin deryasını boylasam
Yüz yirmi dört bin oyunun oynasam
Ustaz bizde yeğen olur oyunda

In English

1. I saw your face and became drunk with you; I could not have my fill of the wine of the Friend's beauty. I saw my pir and was filled with light; if only I could become familiar with his skill and his nature.

2. Of his skill, his nature has a great share; the word of the true one is true, is the Truth. The spirit of one who is of the saved community is pure; I received news from elif, mim and ayn.

3. Elif is God, mim is Muhammad, ayn is Ali; in truth Şah-ı Merdan is Ali. The Family of the Prophet is the Truth, it melts you; the sultan becomes a pilgrim from the dust of its feet.

4. In the dust of its feet reverence and generosity are fitting; respect is due, with the Truth, to the wronged and the righteous. When the law is completed, the order swims and plays in the water of gnosis.

5. If I, Kul Hüseyin, were to speak of gnosis, were to sound the sea of truth, were to play a hundred and twenty-four thousand games, the master would still prove better than us at the game.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This deyiş also circulates outside Işık's collection: it appears, with small differences, in Necdet Kurt's 2017 paper as an example of a güzelleme by Kul Hüseyin, citing Akbulut's book, and a website collecting deyiş has also published it, taken from Akbulut. Işık, for his part, classes the text as a nefes and collected it from the accounts of Ali Yüksel of Keçiköy and Erdoğan Koç; he also cites page 189 of Ali Cem Akbulut's book. The five quatrains are in the eleven-syllable syllabic metre. The even-numbered lines form a half-rhyme with the words "meyine, huyuna, ayından, payından, suyunda, oyunda"; the odd-numbered lines rhyme as "oldum, oldum", "çoktur, haktır, paktır", "Ali'dir, Ali'dir, eridir", "mürüvvet, hürmet, tarikat", "söylesem, boylasam, oynasam". The pen name (mahlas) in the final quatrain takes the form "Kul Hüseyn'im". The article glosses "ürüşan" as bright, very shining, and "aşna" as beloved, friend.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

It opens with the intoxication of seeing the pir's face: the lover cannot have his fill of the wine of the Friend's beauty and is filled with light on seeing his pir. The second and third quatrains explain this experience through the letter symbolism of Alevi-Bektashi belief: elif stands for God, mim for Muhammad, ayn for Ali; in truth Şah-ı Merdan is Ali. It is said that even a sultan becomes a pilgrim from the dust of the feet of the Prophet's Family; this is another expression of the view that counts the pir's threshold as equal to the pilgrimage.

The fourth quatrain briefly sums up the stages of the path: when the law is completed, the order swims and plays in the water of gnosis. Reverence, generosity and respect for the wronged and the righteous are also the ethics of this path. The last quatrain adds a note of humility to the poem: even if the poet spoke of gnosis, sounded the sea of truth and played a hundred and twenty-four thousand games, the "ustaz", the master, would still prove better than him at the game. The master here can be understood both as the guide and as God.

Bibliography

Academic studies

Books

Online sources