Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Bir zaman efsane yeldim cihanda
Şimdi bir sultana eriştik şükür
Fehmettim eşyayı seb’ül mesan da
Nokta-i bürhana eriştik şükür
Yedi harften bir noktaya süzüldük
Esmaü’l Hüsna’ya anda yazıldık
Ehlibeyt’in katarına düzüldük
Menzil’i merdane eriştik şükür
Eliftir dersimiz be dir hecemiz
Feyz-i Hakka mazhar oldu nicemiz
Hakikat kitabın açtı hocamız
Sure-i İmrana eriştik şükür
Otuz altı babdan içeri girdik
Hamdülillah ne hub didara erdik
Kaldırdı nikabın cemalin gördük
Acaib seyrana eriştik şükür
SIDKI der dembedem zikrullahımız
Cana hayat verir Feyzullahımız
Sertac-i Muhammed eyvallahımız
Sırr-ı lamekana eriştik şükür

In English

1. Once I ran about the world in vain; now we have reached a sultan, thanks be. I understood the secret of all things in the Fatiha; we have reached the point of certain proof, thanks be.

2. Filtering down from seven letters we came to a single point; there we were inscribed among the beautiful names of God. We joined the caravan of the Ahl al-Bayt; we have reached the station of the brave, thanks be.

3. Our lesson is alif, our spelling is be; many of us have received the grace of God. Our teacher opened the book of truth; we have reached the Sura of the House of Imran, thanks be.

4. We entered through thirty-six gates; praise be to God, what a fair face we have reached. He lifted his veil and we saw his beauty; we have reached a wondrous sight, thanks be.

5. Sıdkı says: our remembrance at every moment is God; our Feyzullah gives life to the soul. Our "eyvallah" is the crown of Muhammad's head; we have reached the secret of placelessness, thanks be.

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 line of every quatrain ends with the words "eriştik şükür" (we have reached, thanks be); the words before them, "sultana, bürhana, merdane, İmrana, seyrana, lamekana", carry the rhyme. The first quatrain has cross rhyme ("cihanda, mesan da"); in the others the first three lines rhyme among themselves. The pen name appears in the last quatrain. The phrase "efsane yeldim" in the first line has been read as running about in vain.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The deyiş is a poem of thanksgiving that contrasts the emptiness before entering the path with the fullness after reaching a spiritual guide. Its language is woven from a symbolism of letters and the dot: the Fatiha's name "seb'ül-mesânî" (the seven oft-repeated verses), filtering from seven letters down to one dot, the letters alif and be. Alif, the letter of oneness, and be, the letter of duality and creation, are common in Sufi poetry; behind these lines stands the idea that the whole Qur'an is gathered in the Fatiha, the Fatiha in the basmala, and the basmala in the dot beneath the be.

The book mentioned in the line "Our teacher opened the book of truth" is, in Bektashi poetry, often man himself, and especially the face of the guide; the lifting of the veil and the sight of the beloved's beauty in the fourth quatrain support this reading. In the last quatrain the word "Feyzullahımız" means God's grace and is also the name of Feyzullah Çelebi, the head of the Hacıbektaş lodge to whom Sıdkî was attached; the guide's name is used here deliberately with a double meaning. Which gates are meant by the "thirty-six gates" is not explained in the source.

Bibliography

Online sources