Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Bugün seyre çıkmış hublar sultanı
Teşrif etti bezmi alâya bakın,
Şevkiyle münevver kıldı cihanı
Alnında nücum-i Zehraya bakın
Manayı velfecri okur gözleri
Bahseder Sure-i Nur dan yüzleri
Aklımı yağmaya verdi sözleri
Kalbimde devreden sevdaya bakın
Sanki gökten yere indi bir melek,
Bezmi aşıkan’a girdi, gelerek
Bir elinde meze sunar gülerek
Bir elinde meyi sahba’ya bakın
Dökülmüş zülüfler gül gerdanına
Hadisler yazılmış hub divanına
Yüz süren hac olur asitanına
Cemal-i Kabe-i Ulyaya bakın
Budur bu alemde hub padişahım
Mescidim mihrabım hem kıblegahım
Alâ sure-i Rahman işte güvanım
Vechinde esma-ül hüsnaya bakın
Açıp gonca misali çeşmi meftunun
Şad etti bülbül-i dil-i mahzunun
Tezyin etmek için bezmi mecnunun
Kaldırdı nikabın Leylaya bakın
Gelmemiş cihana böyle mâhpare,
Bir bakışta aklım aldı ne çare,
SITKI’yı bülbül gibi düşürdün zare
Şol yüzü gül lebi hamraya bakın

In English

1. Today the sultan of the fair has come out to stroll and has honoured the lofty gathering; behold. With his ardour he has lit up the world; behold the star of Venus on his brow.

2. His eyes read the meaning of the Sura of the Dawn; his face speaks of the Sura of Light. His words have given my reason up to plunder; behold the love that circles in my heart.

3. As if an angel had come down from heaven to earth and entered the gathering of lovers; with one hand he smilingly offers meze; behold the red wine in his other hand.

4. Locks have fallen upon his rose-like neck; hadiths are written on the divan of his fair face. He who lays his face on his threshold becomes a pilgrim; behold his beauty, like the sublime Kaaba.

5. This is my fair sovereign in this world; he is my mosque, my prayer niche and my qibla. Here is my trust, the sublime Sura of the Merciful; behold the beautiful names of God on his face.

6. Opening his enchanting rosebud eye, he gladdened the nightingale of my sorrowful heart. To adorn Majnun's gathering he lifted his veil; behold Layla.

7. No such fragment of the moon has come into the world; in one glance he took my reason, what remedy? You have made Sıtkı moan like a nightingale; behold that rose face, that red lip.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a koşma of seven quatrains in the eleven-syllable metre (the syllable count is ours). The last lines of the quatrains end with the redif "bakın" (behold), and the words before it, "alâya, Zehraya, sevdaya, sahbaya, Ulyaya, hüsnaya, Leylaya, hamraya", carry the rhyme; in the first quatrain the second line is also tied to this redif. The first three lines of the quatrains rhyme among themselves ("gözleri, yüzleri, sözleri"; "melek, gelerek, gülerek"; "gerdanına, divanına, asitanına"; "padişahım, kıblegahım, güvanım"; "meftunun, mahzunun, mecnunun"; "mâhpare, çare, zare"). The pen name appears in the last quatrain in the spelling "Sıtkı".

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The deyiş is a poem of praise describing a beauty who comes to a gathering, and it uses most openly the Bektashi view that reads the beloved's face through the suras of the Qur'an: the eyes recite the Sura of the Dawn, the face the Sura of Light, the Sura of the Merciful and the beautiful names of God are seen on the face, and the threshold is the Kaaba. These images rest on the view that holds man to be the greatest of God's works and the book to be read.

The angel who offers meze and wine like a cupbearer, the gathering of lovers, and Layla and Majnun turn the deyiş into a scene of a gathering of fellowship. The phrases "the lofty gathering" and "the sultan of the fair" suggest that the one who comes is no ordinary beloved but someone held in reverence; given that in his other deyiş Sıdkî uses the words sultan and king for the çelebis, the deyiş may have been composed on a çelebi's arrival at a gathering. This is our interpretation; no name is mentioned in the deyiş.

Bibliography

Online sources