Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Azimet ederek bizim ellere
Devletli sultanım sen sefa geldin
Çoktan beri bakar idim yollara
Kaşları kemanım sen sefa geldin
Mesturdur veçhinde yüz on dört sure
Konduğun haneler gark olur nura
Noksanımız çoktur kalma kusura
Sahibül ihsanım sen sefa geldin
Hüsnün gördüm ruşen oldu gözlerim
Bu sinemi nar-ı aşka közlerim
Haki paye turab olsun yüzlerim
Ey aziz mihmanım sen sefa geldin
Asl-ı pakinizdir güruh-u naci
Cemalin kabesin görenler hacı
Kelamındır her yaremin ilacı
Tabibi lokmanım sen sefa geldin
SIDKI fakir kapınızın kemteri
Cemalin göreli olduk serseri
Velilerin serfirazı serveri
Şah-ı horasanım sen sefa geldin

In English

1. You set out and came towards our land; my sultan of good fortune, welcome. For a long time I had been watching the roads; my beloved with bow-shaped brows, welcome.

2. One hundred and fourteen suras are hidden in your face; the houses where you stay are flooded with light. Our shortcomings are many, do not hold them against us; my bountiful master, welcome.

3. I saw your beauty and my eyes were lit; I fan this breast to embers with the fire of love. May my face become dust on the earth beneath your feet; O my dear guest, welcome.

4. Your pure lineage is of the company that will be saved; those who see the Kaaba of your beauty become pilgrims. Your word is the medicine for every wound of mine; my healer like Luqman, welcome.

5. Poor Sıdkı is the humblest servant of your door; since we saw your beauty we have wandered distracted. Head and leader of the saints, my king of Khorasan, welcome.

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 words "sen sefa geldin" (welcome), and the words before them, "sultanım, kemanım, ihsanım, mihmanım, lokmanım, horasanım", carry the rhyme; in the first quatrain the second line also ends with these words. The first three lines of the quatrains rhyme among themselves ("sure, nura, kusura"; "gözlerim, közlerim, yüzlerim"; "naci, hacı, ilacı"; "kemteri, serseri, serveri"). The pen name appears in the last quatrain. The compilation site states that this deyiş is found on page 91 of Muhsin Gül's book.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The deyiş is a poem of welcome: a sultan who comes "to our land" is received, and the poet says that the roads were watched for him and that the houses where he stays are flooded with light. To say that the one hundred and fourteen suras of the Qur'an are hidden in his face is the fullest expression of the Bektashi view that reads the face of the beloved or the guide like the holy book. "Güruh-ı nâcî" (the company that will be saved) is a phrase of praise used for those descended from the Ahl al-Bayt.

The words "king of Khorasan" in the last line are decisive: in the Alevi-Bektashi tradition Hacı Bektaş Veli is held to have come from Khorasan and is called one of the "saints of Khorasan". The one who comes is therefore understood to be a çelebi of the line of Hacı Bektaş. The words "our land" also suggest that the deyiş was composed on a visit to the place where Sıdkî lived. Necdet Kurt mentions Ali Haydar Efendi, son of Cemaleddin Çelebi, as the çelebi "of the region"; who the person welcomed in the deyiş is, however, the source does not say.

Bibliography

Online sources