Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Sadakat rahına olmuşum salik
Şunda bir gerçeğe inandım yeter
İstemem etseler aleme malik
Hakikat rengine boyandım yeter
Erenler yoluna eyledim iman
Sıyrıldı gönlüme şek ile güman
Tecrid defterine yazıldım el-an
El çektim alemden cılbandım yeter
Bir mürşidi kamil erdi cûşüma
Saadet külahını vurdu başıma
Kudretten bir mengûç taktım gûşuma
Kemerbest ilahi kuşandım yeter
Yazıldı gönlüme sebul mesani
Sağlığımda seyran ettim cihanı
Hak yolunda teslim ettim bu canı
Marifet kavline uzandım yeter
Er ceminde agah oldum bu sırra
Yüküm cevahirdir çözmem her yere
On dört sene hizmet ettim bir pire
Bu SIDKI mahlasın kazamdım yeter

In English

1. I have become a traveller on the path of loyalty; now I have believed in one who is true, and that is enough. Even if they made me master of the world I would not want it; I have been dyed in the colour of truth, and that is enough.

2. I placed my faith in the path of the saints; doubt and suspicion slipped away from my heart. At once I was written into the register of detachment (tecrid); I withdrew my hand from the world and stripped myself bare, and that is enough (the word "cılbandım" is not fully clear).

3. A perfect guide reached me in my fervour; he set the cap of felicity upon my head. I put an earring (mengûş) from the divine power in my ear; I girded on the divine belt, and that is enough.

4. The Fatiha was written on my heart; while still alive I beheld the world. I surrendered this soul on the path of God; I reached out to the word of gnosis, and that is enough.

5. In the cem of the true men I became aware of this secret; my load is jewels, I do not unpack it everywhere. For fourteen years I served a pir; I earned this pen name Sıdkı, and that is enough.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a koşma of five quatrains in the eleven-syllable metre (the syllable count is ours). The last lines of the quatrains end with the redif "yeter" (enough), and the words before it, "boyandım, cılbandım, kuşandım, uzandım, kazamdım", carry the rhyme; in the first quatrain the second line, "inandım yeter", is also tied to it. The first three lines of the quatrains rhyme among themselves ("iman, güman, el-an"; "cûşüma, başıma, gûşuma"; "mesani, cihanı, canı"; "sırra, yere, pire"). The pen name appears in the last quatrain. The word "kazamdım" in the last line stands so in the source and has been read as "kazandım" (I earned).

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The deyiş lists the signs of entering the dervish life and advancing on the path: the path of loyalty, faith in the saints, being written into the register of detachment, the cap the guide sets on the head, the earring called mengûş placed in the ear and the belt girded at the waist. Cap, earring and belt are mentioned here together as signs of dervishhood. The word "tecrid" speaks of stripping oneself of the world and turning to God alone; the words "I withdrew my hand from the world" in the second quatrain complete this meaning.

In the last quatrain Sıdkî likens the secret he learned in the cem of the true men to a caravan load of jewels and says he will not unpack it everywhere; not opening the secret to the unworthy is one of the basic rules of the path. The ending of every quatrain with "enough" stresses that the dervish is content with what he has gained and wants nothing more. The line "Even if they made me master of the world I would not want it" in the first quatrain says this contentment openly.

Historical Context

In the last quatrain the deyiş says that the pen name Sıdkı was earned by fourteen years of service to a pir. This agrees with the story of the pen name related by Necdet Kurt and with the record of "fourteen years" in Sıdkî's other deyiş. The compilation site also quotes the last quatrain of this deyiş separately among the quatrains that tell of the change of pen name.

Bibliography

Online sources