Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Ademoğlu dünyaya da gelince
Taze açılmış bir fidana benzer
Bir yaşına da kademi basınca
Bülbül gibi şakır gülşene benzer
İki yaşında da kalkar oturur
Üç yaşında açık mana götürür
Dört yaşında hamaylısın götürür
Beş yaşında bağı bostana benzer
Altısında da fehim eder düşünü
Yedisinde hep düşürür dişini
Sekizinde de fehim eder işini
Dokuzunda mıh’ı tabana benzer
On yaşında taze güldür kokulur
On birinde de gül gibi açılır
Oniksinde boy gösterir seçilir
On üçünde selvi revana benzer
On dördünde mah buluğu çağıdır
On beşinde gören aklın dağıtır
On altıda sanki cennet bağıdır
On yedide kaşlar kemana benzer
On sekizde fehim eder arınır
On dokuzda gözetir şikârını
Yirmisinde kimse bilmez sırrını
Talimini almış şahana benzer
Yirmi beşinde bir hoşça görünür
Otuzunda akan sular durulur
Otuz beşte meclislerde anılır
Yârine karışmış irfana benzer
Kırk yaşında güzel gibi bağlarda
Kırk beşinde günahların ağlarda
Ellisinde Süphan’a bel bağlarda
Yüklemiş yükünü kervana benzer
Elli beşte ettikleri düş olur
Altmışında pirlik gelir kış olur
Altmış beşinde gözleri yaş olur
Dağ başına çıkmış güneşe benzer
Yetmişinde ağrı iner dizine
Yetmiş beşte duman çöker gözüne
Sekseninde kimse bakmaz yüzüne
Baykuşlar oturmuş virana benzer
Seksen beşinde beli bükülünce
Doksanında defterin dürülünce
Doksan beşinde ömrü serilince
Bir ömrü savrulmuş harmana benzer
Kul Hüseyn’im yüz yaşına varınca
Yeni doğmuş sabi halin olunca
Geldiğin hallere geri dönünce
Hemen Hakk’a yakın durağa benzer

In English

1. When the son of Adam comes into the world, he is like a sapling freshly opened. When he steps into his first year, he is like a rose garden singing like the nightingale.

2. At two he gets up and sits down; at three he carries plain meaning; at four he carries his amulet; at five he is like a vineyard and a garden.

3. At six he understands his dreams; at seven he sheds all his teeth; at eight he understands his work; at nine he is like a nail driven into a sole.

4. At ten he is a fresh rose, to be smelled; at eleven he opens like a rose; at twelve he shows his stature and is noticed; at thirteen he is like a swaying cypress.

5. At fourteen it is the moon-bright age of youth; at fifteen he steals the mind of whoever sees him; at sixteen he is as if a garden of paradise; at seventeen his brows are like a bow.

6. At eighteen he understands and is purified; at nineteen he watches for his prey; at twenty no one knows his secret; he is like a falcon that has received its training.

7. At twenty-five he looks fair; at thirty the flowing waters grow clear; at thirty-five he is spoken of in the gatherings; he is like wisdom mingled with its beloved.

8. At forty he is like a beauty in the vineyards; at forty-five he is in the nets of his sins; at fifty he girds his waist to God the Glorious; he is like one who has loaded his burden on the caravan.

9. At fifty-five the things he did become a dream; at sixty old age comes, it is winter; at sixty-five his eyes fill with tears; he is like the sun that has climbed to the mountain top.

10. At seventy pain comes down into his knee; at seventy-five smoke settles upon his eye; at eighty no one looks at his face; he is like a ruin where owls sit.

11. When at eighty-five his back is bent, when at ninety his ledger is folded, when at ninety-five his life is laid out, he is like a threshing floor that has been winnowed away.

12. I, Kul Hüseyin, when one reaches a hundred, when one's state becomes like a newborn babe, when one returns to the states one came from, one is at once like a station near to God.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The twelve quatrains list the stages of human life, advancing the age first year by year and then in steps of five; Işık classes the text as a "yaş destanı", a destan of the ages. Each quatrain closes on a likeness: before the redif "benzer" (is like) come "fidana, gülşene, bostana, tabana, selvi revana, kemana, şahana, irfana, kervana, güneşe, virana, harmana, durağa" (a sapling, a rose garden, a garden, a sole, a swaying cypress, a bow, a falcon, wisdom, a caravan, the sun, a ruin, a threshing floor, a station). The first three lines make rhymes such as "oturur, götürür, götürür", "düşünü, dişini, işini". The metre is the eleven-syllable syllabic measure; the article notes that "oniksinde" is shortened from "on ikisinde" (at twelve) for the metre. The pen name (mahlas) in the last quatrain takes the form "Kul Hüseyn'im". The text was collected from Halil Sezgin.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The destan of the ages is a well-known genre of folk poetry that tells human life age by age. Kul Hüseyin's deyiş follows the order of the genre: from birth to the first year, from there year by year to twenty, then in steps of five years to a hundred, the states of man are listed. Each age is given through a likeness: a fresh sapling, a singing rose garden, a vineyard and garden, a cypress stature, a bow-shaped brow, a trained falcon. The age of youth is full of images of beauty and vitality.

After forty the images change: the net of sins, the burden loaded on the caravan, deeds turned to dreams, a life turned to winter, the sun climbed to the mountain top and about to set, pain coming down into the knee, smoke settling on the eye, and at last the ruin where owls sit and the threshing floor winnowed away. The last quatrain closes with an unexpected turn: the man who reaches a hundred returns to being like a newborn babe, and this return brings him to a station near God. Life is thus completed like a circle; death, in keeping with the Alevi understanding of "walking to God", is seen as a drawing near.

Bibliography

Online sources