Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eight-syllable syllabic metre

Eğildim bir dolu içtim
Pirin elinden elinden
Yandı ciğer kebap oldu
Narın elinden elinden
Yârin bahçasında güller
Şah deyi öter bülbüller
Ne bilsin halimden eller
Elin elinden elinden
Dostun bahçasına girdim
Hem okudum hemi yazdım
Ben yârimden ayrı gezdim
Düşman elinden elinden
İşte geldi bahar yazlar
Ötüyor turnalar kazlar
Süzülüyor ala gözler
Ölüm elinden elinden
Çayır çimen don bürüdü
Lale sümbüller yürüdü
Dağların karı eridi
Yelin elinden elinden
Duttum pirimin elinden
Korkmam sıratın yolundan
Kul Hüseyin’im korkaman
Adü dilinden dilinden

In English

1. I bent down and drank a cup from the pir's hand; my liver burned and turned to roast meat from the hand of the fire.

2. In the beloved's garden roses bloom, nightingales sing "Shah"; what do strangers know of my state, from the hand of strangers.

3. I entered the Friend's garden, I both read and wrote; I wandered apart from my beloved from the hand of the enemy.

4. Here spring and summer have come; cranes and geese are singing; hazel eyes grow languid from the hand of death.

5. Meadow and grass have put on green, tulips and hyacinths have spread; the snow of the mountains has melted from the hand of the wind.

6. I took hold of my pir's hand, I do not fear the road of Sırat; I, Kul Hüseyin, fear only the tongue of the enemy.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Doubling is the signature of this güzelleme: lines two and four of every quatrain end "elinden elinden" (from the hand of), and in the final quatrain the doubled phrase becomes "dilinden dilinden" (from the tongue of). The rhymes of the first and third lines run "içtim, oldu", "güller, bülbüller, eller", "girdim, yazdım, gezdim", "yazlar, kazlar, gözler", "bürüdü, yürüdü, eridi", "elinden, yolundan, korkaman". The six quatrains are in eight-syllable lines; Işık classes the text as a güzelleme. In the last stanza the pen name (mahlas) takes the form "Kul Hüseyin'im". The text was collected from one of Işık's informants.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

It opens with the cup drunk from the pir's hand; the cup offered from the guide's hand in the cem sets the lover's liver on fire. The following quatrains set side by side the images of spring and love: nightingales singing "Shah" in the beloved's garden, singing cranes and geese, meadows clothed in green, melting mountain snows. But within this liveliness there is also separation and death: the lover wanders apart from his beloved at the enemy's hand, hazel eyes grow languid at death's hand.

The doubled phrase "from the hand of" takes on different meanings through the poem: the gift that comes from the pir's hand, the pain that comes from the fire's hand, the incomprehension of strangers, the enemy who separates, the inevitability of death, the power of the wind that melts the snows. The last quatrain gives the conclusion of the deyiş: the lover who holds his pir's hand fears not even the bridge of Sırat; his only fear is the enemy's tongue. This line joins the warning against gossip and slander seen in other deyiş of Kul Hüseyin as well.

Bibliography

Online sources