Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Eğer âdem benim aslım sorarsan
Yine gelmiş yine gitmişim ben de
Eğlenin de doğru haber vereyim
Eğer arifsen dinle şimdi sen de
Adem’i safiye bir ikrar verdim
Muhammed Ali’nin birliğin bildim
Onki İmam’dan ilm edep öğrendim
Okuduğum hatta amir her anda
Dört nesneden karıp ol dem yoğruldum
Sekiz secdedeyken zuhura geldim
Circis ile bile öldüm dirildim
Mefta ile yatar idim al kanda
Muhabbetim Hasan ile Hüseyin
Hak göz ile bakar idim mihmana
İmam Zeynel ile girdim zindana
Yetmiş yıldır yatar idim bir handa
Ebül Vefa ile bir kazan kurdum
Muhammed Bakırla zuhura geldim
Eba Müslim ile bir teber çaldım
Bir zaman da cenk ederdim meydanda
Mürşidimin sözün haktır hakladım
İmam Cafer buyruğunu sakladım
Üç yüz yıldır geyiklerle otladım
Bir zamanda gezer idim seyranda
Musa Kazım ile kurşunlar yuttum
Kamil etek tuttum kemale yettim
Kırk gün Yunus ile riyazet ettim
Balık ile gezer idim ummanda
Taki’ye Naki’ye elim yetirdim
Öküz ile bile dünya götürdüm
Bine yettim beş yüzlere katıldım
Vücudumu seyreyledim meydanda
Hasan Askeri’ye ervahım kattım
Meyyitim yıkadım tabutum çaktım
Nuh ile gemiyi deryaya kattım
Yelken açtım eser idim tufanda
Mehdi ile yaşar idim bir anda
Ferhat ile öldüm Şirin yolunda
Bir kurt idim ol Eyüp’ün teninde
Çiçek idim bal ederdim kovanda
Kul Hüseyin hep bunlarda var idim
Hakk’ın haznesinde gizli sır idim
Anadan doğmadan kâmil pir idim
Şimdi bana cahil derler insanda

In English

1. O man, if you ask about my origin, I too have come again and gone again. Wait, and let me give you true news; if you are a sage, listen now, you too.

2. I gave a pledge to Adam the Pure; I knew the oneness of Muhammad and Ali. From the Twelve Imams I learned knowledge and manners; in the script I read there was command at every moment.

3. At that moment I was mixed and kneaded from the four elements; I came forth while in eight prostrations. With Saint George I died and came to life; with Mefta I lay in red blood.

4. My fellowship was with Hasan and Hüseyin; I looked upon the guest with the eye of God. With Imam Zeynel I entered the dungeon; for seventy years I lay in an inn.

5. With Ebü'l-Vefa I set up a cauldron; with Muhammad Bakır I came forth. With Abu Muslim I struck with an axe; for a time I fought upon the field.

6. My guide's word is the Truth, I confirmed it; I kept the precepts of Imam Cafer. For three hundred years I grazed with the deer; for a time I wandered in the pleasure grounds.

7. With Musa Kâzım I swallowed bullets; I held the skirt of a perfected one and reached perfection. For forty days I kept discipline with Jonah; I wandered in the ocean with the fish.

8. My hand reached Taki and Naki; together with the ox I carried the world. I reached the thousand, I joined the five hundred; I watched my own body upon the field.

9. I joined my spirit to Hasan Askerî; I washed my corpse, I nailed my coffin. With Noah I launched the ship upon the sea; I set sail and blew through the flood.

10. In a moment I lived with the Mahdi; with Ferhat I died on the road to Şirin. I was a worm in the body of Job; I was a flower, I made honey in the hive.

11. I, Kul Hüseyin, was present in all of these; I was a hidden secret in God's treasury. Before I was born of a mother I was a perfected pir; now among people they call me ignorant.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The locative suffix dominates the line endings: in the first quatrain the second and fourth lines end "ben de, sen de" (I too, you too), while the last lines of the later quatrains close on "her anda, al kanda, bir handa, meydanda, seyranda, ummanda, meydanda, tufanda, kovanda, insanda" (at every moment, in red blood, in an inn, on the field, in the pleasure grounds, in the ocean, in the flood, in the hive, among people). In each quatrain the first three lines rhyme with one another ("verdim, bildim, öğrendim", "yoğruldum, geldim, dirildim", "kurdum, geldim, çaldım" and so on). The eleven quatrains are in the eleven-syllable syllabic metre; Işık classes the text as a nefes and a düvaz-ı imam. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last stanza as "Kul Hüseyin". The text was collected from Halil Sezgin; the article notes that "Onki İmam" is shortened for the metre.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The deyiş carries the features of the genre known in Alevi-Bektashi poetry as "devriye": it tells of the soul circling from eternity cycle by cycle, entering and leaving different moulds. Saying "I have come again and gone again", the poet tells of his own origin and says that he has always been present at the great events of history: he gave his pledge to Adam, learned knowledge from the Twelve Imams, died and rose again with Saint George, entered the dungeon with Zeynelabidin, fought with Abu Muslim, set sail in Noah's ark, died with Ferhat on the road to Şirin. The names of the imams also appear in order in this narrative; this is why Işık also classes the deyiş as a düvaz-ı imam.

The devriye is closely related to the belief in "changing garments" seen in Derviş Edna's deyiş too. In Kul Hüseyin's deyiş the soul enters nature as well as human beings: it grazes with the deer for three hundred years, wanders the ocean with the fish, becomes the worm in Job's wound and the flower that makes honey in the hive; the line "together with the ox I carried the world" recalls the popular belief that the world rests on the horns of an ox. The last quatrain closes with a strong contrast: the one who was a hidden secret in God's treasury, a perfected pir before he was born of a mother, is now called "ignorant" by people.

Bibliography

Online sources