Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Mefʿūlü mefāʿīlü mefāʿīlü feʿūlün
Mādem sefālet peder u māderimizdir
Ḳānūn-ı mesāʿi rehimiz, reh-berimizdir
Erbāb-ı ġınā bizleri der-ḫāṭır ider mi
Sözde bütün efrād-ı beşer dārımızdır
Saʿy u ʿamele, kesb-i ʿibādet dimiş Allāh
Tebşīr iden ulu cehle peyġamberimizdir
Zencīr-i mesāʿi ki mineʾl-mehdi ileʾl-laḥd
Dōlāb-ı ḥayāt anda döner miḥverimizdir
Ḥürriyyeti āġūşumuza atdı mesāʿi
Miskinlik ise ḫāric-i dār u derimizdir
Yā Rabb ʿamele ḳullarıñız hep fuḳarāyız
Söndürme ki nūr-ı keremiñ aḫterimizdir
Biz ḳullarıñ iḳdāmıdır iʿmār iden arżı
Köhne kürreniñ ŝerveti tāb u ferimizdir
Biz ṣayd ideriz saʿyile emvācdan incü
Elmās ile mercān daḫi dest-āvāremizdir
ʿĀlem olur erbāb-ı mesāʿiyye müsaḫḫar
Biz ʿālemiñ oġlı, o bizim çākerimizdir
Ey zengīn! Ey işden eli maḥrūm birāder
Sen, ben ḳuluz, Allāh bizim dāverimizdir
Bir sofra ḳurup itmiş aña bizleri daʿvet
Daʿvet-i mütesāvī, mütefāvıt yerimizdir
Yek-dīgeri gel imdi birāder sevelim gel
Gel gel ki muḥabbet ezelī cevherimizdir
Ḫilḳatde biriz, māye de bir ʿayn-ı ḫamīriz
Tā ki bu ġaraż-ı māniʿ yek-dīgerimizdir
Tesmīm-i saʿādet iden ol kibr, bu kīndir
Gūyā ki ṭabīʿatlerimiz aŝdarımızdır
Gel öldürelim aŝdarı yek-cān olalım gel
Allāh bu maḳṣadda bizim yāverimizdir
El birligi, dil birligi, cān birligi lāzım
Vaḥdetle uḫūvvet serimiz, efserimizdir
Nisyān idelim buġż u ʿadāvetle şiḳāfı
Terk it ki uyuz düşmen bed-manẓaramızdır
Sermiş gibi gūyā iki cān ʿaynı vücūda
Yek-cān olalım tā ki cihān pestlerimizdir
Cemʿ olsa bu ḳuvvetle o şefḳat ṭoġar andan
Ferzend-i semāvī ki saʿādetlerimizdir
In English
1. Since poverty is our father and our mother, the law of labour is our road and our guide.
2. Do the rich ever remember us? In word, all human beings are our brothers. (The rhyme word was read "dārımızdır" in the thesis.)
3. God has called toil and labour the earning of worship; the one who brought this good news is our great Prophet. (A word in the second line is unclear.)
4. The chain of labour that runs from the cradle to the grave: the wheel of life turns about it; it is our axis.
5. Labour has thrown freedom into our arms; idleness stays outside our house and our door.
6. O Lord, we are your working servants, all of us poor; do not put out the light of your generosity, it is our star.
7. It is the effort of us, your servants, that makes the earth prosper; the wealth of the old globe is the sheen and glory of our sweat.
8. By our toil we hunt pearls from the waves; diamond and coral too are the gain of our hands.
9. The world submits to those who labour; we are the sons of the world, and it is our servant.
10. O rich man, O brother whose hands are strangers to work! You and I are both servants, God is our judge.
11. (God) has laid a table and invited us to it; the invitation is equal, only our places differ.
12. Come now, brother, let us love one another, come; come, come, for love is our eternal essence.
13. In creation we are one, our leaven is one, we are the same dough; but this malice stands between us.
14. What poisons happiness is that pride and this malice; it is as if our natures were our dragon.
15. Come, let us slay the dragon and become one soul, come; God is our helper in this aim.
16. Unity of hand, unity of tongue, unity of soul is needed; union and brotherhood are our head and our crown.
17. Let us forget the rift that comes with hatred and enmity; leave it, it is our mangy, ugly-looking enemy.
18. As though two souls were spread through one body, let us become one soul, so that the world may lie beneath our feet. (The last word of the second line could not be read with certainty.)
19. If that compassion joins with this strength, a heavenly child is born of it, which is our happiness.
Literary and Historical Commentary
A Workers' Song from the French
These nineteen couplets titled "Amele Şarkısı, Fransızcadan Terceme" (The Workers' Song, translated from French) are Cûdî's second translation from French beside Lamartine's "Le Lac"; Tok Yıldız too mentions these two translations together. Which French poem was translated is not stated in the thesis, nor could it be identified here. In nineteenth-century France songs written for workers calling for unity and brotherhood were widespread; Cûdî's text carries the theme of this kind, but is built as a divan poem in aruz with the redif "-erimizdir" (is our ...).
The language of the poem is new for Ottoman literature. The speakers are "amele", labourers; poverty is their mother and father, the law of labour their guide. It is their effort that makes the earth prosper, they hunt pearls from the waves, diamond and coral are the gain of their hands. In the tenth couplet the rich man is addressed directly: "Ey işden eli mahrûm birâder", O brother whose hands are strangers to work, you and I are both servants. The eleventh couplet expresses equality through a religious scene: God has laid a table, the invitation is equal for all, only the places differ.
Cûdî sets this call within an Islamic frame. Labour is counted worship, the copyist notes the hadith "seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave" beside the fourth couplet, and the poem continues by likening malice and pride to a dragon to be slain, with the call for "unity of hand, unity of tongue, unity of soul". The last couplet says that from the union of strength and compassion a "heavenly child" will be born: happiness. The French workers' poem's idea of solidarity has been translated in this version into the language of brotherhood and divine justice.
Bibliography
- Havva Tok Yıldız, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [1b-43a], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 64-66 (poem no. 48; manuscript fol. 20b-21a); introduction p. 8. http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116853.pdf
Online sources
