Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Şeyh Safi oğluysan yükünü tayla
Sultanlar sultanı göçtü duydun mu?
Yetir bu manayı binde bir söyle
Suçluyu suçsuzu seçti duydun mu?
Haberde alamaz kalaba çokluk
İmam kıtlığı koptu fena yokluk
Sekseni bin kere doksan bin atlık
Ecel şerbetini içti duydun mu?
Evliyanın buyruğundan çıktılar
Canları da cehennemde yaktılar
Şu mahlûkun işlerine baktılar
Allah şu mahlûktan geçti duydun mu?
Evliyalar şu mahlûku terk etti
Muhammed’e ümmetini yoklattı
Çaldı rahmet kapısını kitletti
Zulmet kapısını açtı duydun mu?
Kul Hüseyin’im der ki yaramadınız
Kördü gözleriniz göremediniz
Yetmiş yıl dolandı eremediniz
Zühre yıldızıydı aştı duydun mu?

In English

1. If you are a son of Şeyh Safi, weigh your load; the sultan of sultans has passed away, did you hear. Pass on this meaning, tell it to one in a thousand; he has separated the guilty from the guiltless, did you hear.

2. The crowd, the multitude cannot take in this news; a dearth of imams has broken out, a dire want. Eighty thousand times ninety thousand horsemen have drunk the sherbet of death, did you hear.

3. They departed from the precepts of the saints; they burned their own souls in hell. They looked upon the deeds of these people; God has given up on these people, did you hear.

4. The saints have abandoned these people; they had Muhammad look into his community. He knocked at the door of mercy and had it locked; he opened the door of darkness, did you hear.

5. I, Kul Hüseyin, say you were of no use; your eyes were blind, you could not see. For seventy years you wandered and could not reach him; he was the star Venus, he has passed on, did you hear.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

In every quatrain a piece of news is asked about: lines two and four end with the redif "duydun mu?" (did you hear?), preceded by the verbs "göçtü, seçti, içti, geçti, açtı, aştı" (passed away, separated, drank, gave up, opened, passed on). The rhymes of the odd-numbered lines run "tayla, söyle", "çokluk, yokluk, atlık", "çıktılar, yaktılar, baktılar", "etti, yoklattı, kitletti", "yaramadınız, göremediniz, eremediniz". The text runs to five quatrains in the eleven-syllable syllabic metre; Işık classes the text as a nefes. The pen name (mahlas) "Kul Hüseyin'im" comes in the last quatrain. The informants were Âşık Cafer Aydoğdu, Erdoğan Koç and Halil Sezgin.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem brings the news that the "sultan of sultans" has passed away. Who has died is not said; the address "son of Şeyh Safi" in the first line shows that the deyiş is turned to a community attached to the path of Şeyh Safi. The source does not state on whose death the deyiş was composed; that it may be a lament composed on the death of a great pir or saint is our conjecture. The greatness of the news is conveyed through hyperbolic images: a dearth of imams has broken out, countless horsemen have drunk the sherbet of death.

In the third and fourth quatrains this death is interpreted as a consequence of the people departing from the precepts of the saints: the saints have abandoned the people, the door of mercy has been locked, the door of darkness opened. The last quatrain is a sharp reproach to those who, though they wandered for seventy years, could not see that great person because their eyes were blind and could not reach him; he for his part shone like the star Venus and passed on. This reproach agrees with the popular belief that a saint's worth is understood only after he is gone.

Bibliography

Online sources