Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Kerbela çölünü gönül arzular
Varayıdım pirim Şah Hüseyin’e
Her andıkça yaralarım sızılar
Şemsi ile kamer Şah Hüseyin’im
Nasibim atılsa Bağdat şarına
Mansur gibi gail idim darına
Hakkı zarım imamları varına
Kanı revan akar Şah Hüseyin’im
Muhammed Ali’nin evladı yâri
Şehitler içinde sevgili huri
Şehitler serdarı imamlar barı
Kanı revan akar Şah Hüseyin’im
Senin abdalların semaha döner
Her zaman okunur kandiller yanar
Her sabah her sabah secdeye iner
Secde gâhım idi Şah Hüseyin’im
Sefil Kul Hüseyin’im yaram sızılar
Orda kavim kardeş bizi arzular
Yalın ayak başı açık kuzular
Dökülmüş meydana Şah Hüseyin’im

In English

1. The heart longs for the desert of Karbala; if only I could go to my pir, Şah Hüseyin. Each time I remember, my wounds ache; my sun and my moon is Şah Hüseyin.

2. If my lot were cast in the city of Baghdad, like Mansur I would accept his gallows. I am the lament of God, for all the imams; the blood of my Şah Hüseyin flows without end.

3. Child and beloved of Muhammad and Ali; a cherished houri among the martyrs; leader of the martyrs, fruit of the imams; the blood of my Şah Hüseyin flows without end.

4. Your dervishes turn in the semah; at all times it is recited, the lamps are burning; every morning, every morning they bow down in prostration; my place of prostration was Şah Hüseyin.

5. I, poor Kul Hüseyin, my wound aches; there kin and brothers long for us. Barefoot and bareheaded the lambs are scattered across the field, my Şah Hüseyin.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The name of Imam Hüseyin is repeated at the end of every quatrain: the last lines end on "Şah Hüseyin'im" (my Şah Hüseyin) ("Şemsi ile kamer, Kanı revan akar, Secde gâhım idi, Dökülmüş meydana Şah Hüseyin'im"), and the second line of the first quatrain closes "Şah Hüseyin'e". Işık classes the text as a nefes and a mersiye. The rhymes of the first three lines are: "şarına, darına, varına", "yâri, huri, barı", "döner, yanar, iner", "sızılar, arzular, kuzular". The five quatrains are in the eleven-syllable syllabic metre. In the final quatrain the pen name (mahlas) takes the form "Sefil Kul Hüseyin'im". The text was collected from Erdoğan Koç.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The mersiye is the lament sung for Imam Hüseyin, martyred at Karbala. In Kul Hüseyin's deyiş the lament joins with longing: the heart longs for the desert of Karbala, the poet wishes to go to his pir, Şah Hüseyin. The lot cast in Baghdad and the wish to stand at the gallows like Mansur show the stance of a lover willing to give his life on God's path. Hüseyin is named as the child of Muhammad and Ali, the leader of the martyrs, the fruit of the imams; his blood flowing without end conveys that the pain of Karbala is kept alive as a wound that never heals.

The fourth quatrain ties the lament to ritual: Hüseyin's dervishes turn in the semah, the lamps burn, they bow down in prostration morning after morning. The laments recited in the month of Muharrem and the mourning kept for Hüseyin stand at the centre of Alevi community life. In the last stanza the barefoot, bareheaded "lambs", the orphaned children of Karbala, appear scattered across the field; by naming himself, Hüseyin, together with the name of Imam Hüseyin, the poet turns the lament into a personal mourning.

Bibliography

Online sources