Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Pervaz vurup arş yüzünde dönünce
Dinlen tarif edem yolu turnalar
Hidayet Mevla’dan kalkın deyince
Gözetleyin sağı solu turnalar
Varıncağız Amasya’nın üstüne
Secde kılın Hamdullah’ın postuna
Damanına, dergâhına, destine
Ezelden demişiz beli turnalar
Hamdullahtır gerçeklerin şahbazı
Çağrışın Melâ’yı açın pervazı
Ali Pir Civan’a kılın niyazı
Temaşa eyleyin eri turnalar
Ol Niyaz Babaya bir niyaz eylen
Toprağı kimyadır yükleri Taylan
Çal Dede Sultan’a ahvali söylen
Hoş mızrak tutar eli turnalar
Durmayın Çetmi’de açın pervazı
Emirce Sultan’a kılın niyazı
Hacıköy’de şehitlerin şahbazı
Anında bir ismi Deli turnalar
Merzifon’dan seyreyleyin obayı
Kılavuz eyleyin bad-i sabayı
Hem ziyaret edin Pir-i babayı
Hoştur o sultanın hali turnalar
Giderken uğrayın Balım Sultan’a
Sıdkile yalvarın erler uyana
Özleri bağlayın âl-i İmran’a
Kudretten uzundur kolu turnalar
İn Harız köyüne seyret didara
Bizim için selam söylen o yara
Sürün yüzünüzü Çıkan Pınar’a
Onun ab-i zemzem gölü turnalar
Orda zikreyleyin gani hüdayı
Doldurun zemzemi için badeyi
Görmeden geçmeyin Göğce Dede’yi
Bekler memleketi, ili turnalar
Nacaklı’da görün koca sultanı
Kudretten açılır gülü gülşanı
Akar çeşmeleri hoştur seyranı
Türlü meyve verir dalı turnalar
Muallâdan görün Kandil Baba’yı
Ziyaret eyleyin alın duayı
Pervaz vurun seyreyleyin Kovay’ı
Ora muhabbetin yeri turnalar
Kovay’dan geçinde doğru bir rahtır
Açılır gülleri yeri mübahtır
Hasan Dede derler hoş nazargâhtır
Kuşları var hoştur dili turnalar
Hamama varınca seyret gül-ab’ı
Başında bekliyor çifte arabı
Ağca Dede ile Elvan Çelebi
Estirir poyrazı yeli turnalar
Kuşsaray üstünden açınca heman
Uğraman Çorum’a ademi yaman
Ömert’ten geçince Garipçe Sultan
Garip garip söyler dili turnalar
Bir gececik yatın Kırklar dağında
Bülbül öter bahçesinde bağında
Açın kanatları seher çağında
Seyredin ülkeyi ili turnalar
Çıkın arş yüzünde yüceden dönün
Hüseyin Gazi’ye varınca konun
Zemzem ü Kevserdir gölünde yunun
Bağlan o sultana beli turnalar
Bundan öte gideceğin Bozok’tur
Baharın hasbahçesi hubları çoktur
Güzelli, mihmandar emsali yoktur
Onları tarif eder yolu turnalar
Eğer düşerseniz Malya çölüne
Niyaz kılın Otman Baba beline
Konun Çilehaneye, Seyfe gölüne
Kudretten akmakta balı turnalar
Yükseğinden seyreyleyin inişe
Dostun kahvecisi Ali Derviş’e
Muradım, maksudum, arzum hemişe
Hünkâr Hacı Bektaş Veli turnalar
Sürün yüzünüzü Hazret-i Pire
Şah Balım Sultan dertlere çare
Nuri Feyzullah’tır bir kaşı kare
Irgalanır zülfün teli turnalar
Çeşmesinden abı hayat içilir
Üstümüze nur-i rahmet saçılır
Lale, sünbül, gül-ü reyhan açılır
Solmaz has bahçenin gülü turnalar
Bahçenizde garip garip öteyim
Matahımı müşteriye satayım
Hasta düştüm şu Harız’da yatayım
Sorun her ahvali, hali turnalar
Hamdülillah gören çeker mi yası
Pirim Bektaş Veli mülkün ihyası
Nur-i Cemalettin hubların hası
PERVANE ol yarin kulu turnalar

In English

1. When you wheel with beating wings across the face of the sky, listen, let me describe the road to you, O cranes. When the command "rise" comes with guidance from the Lord, watch right and left, O cranes.

2. When you reach the sky above Amasya, bow down at Hamdullah's post. Since pre-eternity we have said "yes" to his skirt, his lodge and his hand, O cranes.

3. Hamdullah is the falcon of the true men; call to one another and spread your wings (the word "Melâ" is not fully clear). Bow before Ali Pir Civan and behold that true man, O cranes.

4. Make a supplication to that Niyaz Baba; his soil is an elixir (the words "yükleri Taylan" are not fully clear). Go to Dede Sultan and tell him of our state; how well his hand holds the spear, O cranes.

5. Do not stop at Çetmi, spread your wings; bow before Emirce Sultan. At Hacıköy is the falcon of martyrs; at once one of his names is "Deli", O cranes.

6. From Merzifon behold the encampment; take the morning breeze as your guide. Visit Pîrî Baba as well; that sultan's state is fair, O cranes.

7. On your way call in at Balım Sultan; implore the wakeful men with sincerity. Bind your selves to the House of Imran; his arm is long by divine power, O cranes.

8. Come down to the village of Harız and behold the beloved; give our greetings to that beloved. Rub your faces at Çıkan Pınar; its pool is the water of Zamzam, O cranes.

9. There remember God the Rich; fill the Zamzam and drink the cup. Do not pass by without seeing Göğce Dede; he watches over the land and the province, O cranes.

10. At Nacaklı see the great sultan; his rose and rose garden open by divine power. His fountains flow, the sight is fair; his branch bears every kind of fruit, O cranes.

11. From Muallâ see Kandil Baba; visit him and receive his prayer. Wheel on your wings and behold Kovay; that is the place of fellowship, O cranes.

12. Past Kovay there is a straight road; its roses open, its ground is lawful. They call it Hasan Dede, a fair place of blessed regard; it has birds with sweet voices, O cranes.

13. When you come to Hamam, behold the rose water; at its head a pair of "Arabs" wait (the line is not fully clear). Ağca Dede and Elvan Çelebi make the north wind blow, O cranes.

14. As soon as you spread your wings over Kuşsaray, do not call at Çorum, its people are harsh. Past Ömert is Garipçe Sultan; his tongue speaks forlornly, O cranes.

15. Lie for one short night on the Mountain of the Forty; the nightingale sings in its gardens and vineyards. Spread your wings at the hour of dawn and behold the country and the land, O cranes.

16. Rise to the face of the sky and turn from on high; when you reach Hüseyin Gazi, alight. His lake is Zamzam and Kawthar, bathe in it; bind yourselves to that sultan, O cranes.

17. Beyond this, where you will go is Bozok; it is the private garden of spring, its beauties are many. Its fair ones and its hosts have no equal; the road will describe them to you, O cranes.

18. If you fall upon the plain of Malya, bow at Otman Baba's pass. Alight at Çilehane and at Lake Seyfe; there honey flows by divine power, O cranes.

19. From the height behold the descent and go to Ali Derviş, the coffee-maker of the Friend. My wish, my aim, my desire is ever the Hünkâr Hacı Bektaş Veli, O cranes.

20. Rub your faces on the Holy Pir; Shah Balım Sultan is the cure for pains. There is the light of Feyzullah, one brow is black; the strand of his lock sways, O cranes.

21. From his fountain the water of life is drunk; the light of mercy is scattered over us. Tulip, hyacinth, rose and basil open; the rose of that private garden never fades, O cranes.

22. Let me sing forlornly in your garden; let me sell my goods to the buyer. I have fallen ill, let me lie here in Harız; ask after my every state and condition, O cranes.

23. Praise be to God, does one who has seen this mourn? My pir Bektaş Veli is the revival of the realm. The light of Cemaleddin is the choicest of the fair; Pervane is the servant of that beloved, O cranes.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a long koşma of twenty-three quatrains in the eleven-syllable metre (the syllable count is ours). The last line of every quatrain ends with the redif "turnalar" (O cranes), and words such as "yolu, solu, beli, eri, eli, Deli, hali, kolu, gölü, ili, dalı, yeri, dili, yeli" before it 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. The pen name appears in the last quatrain as "Pervane". The place and personal names in a few lines ("Melâ", "yükleri Taylan", "çifte arabı") stand so in the source and could not be understood with certainty; these places are marked in the rendering.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The deyiş uses a pattern beloved in Alevi-Bektashi poetry: addressing the cranes and sending them as messengers to a place. In this tradition the crane is a sacred bird whose movements are imitated in the semah. Sıdkî describes a road to the cranes, and this road is a series of places of pilgrimage: in Amasya, Hamdullah's post, Ali Pir Civan, Niyaz Baba and Dede Sultan; Çetmi, Emirce Sultan and Hacıköy, that is, Gümüşhacıköy; Pîrî Baba in Merzifon; Çıkan Pınar and Göğce Dede in Harız; Nacaklı, Muallâ, Kovay, Hasan Dede, Hamam, Ağca Dede and Elvan Çelebi; Kuşsaray, Çorum, Ömert and Garipçe Sultan; the Mountain of the Forty, Hüseyin Gazi, Bozok, Malya, Otman Baba, Çilehane and Lake Seyfe; and at last, in Hacıbektaş, Ali Derviş, Hacı Bektaş Veli and Balım Sultan.

This sequence traces a road that sets out from the Amasya and Merzifon region and reaches Hacıbektaş by way of Çorum, Bozok (the Yozgat region) and the Malya plain of Kırşehir. The deyiş is therefore also valuable as a list, in verse, of the Alevi-Bektashi places of pilgrimage of the region; some of the names are still known today as names of villages or tombs. The words "its people are harsh" said of Çorum are a playful warning set within a long description of the road. In the last quatrains the cranes reach the light of the çelebis Feyzullah and Cemaleddin at Hacıbektaş, and the poet asks the cranes to inquire after himself, lying ill in Harız.

Historical Context

"Hamdullah's post", visited in Amasya in the second and third quatrains, suggests the tomb of Hamdullah Çelebi, head of the Hacıbektaş lodge, who was exiled to Amasya after the Bektashi order was closed in 1826 and died there; the tomb is described in the site's article on the tombs of Amasya. Göğce Dede in the ninth quatrain is, according to Necdet Kurt, the name of the place in Harız where Sıdkî's son Ali Bâkî was buried. In the deyiş the pen name is "Pervane", and Cemaleddin Çelebi is named in the last quatrain; the pen name Pervane was used until about 1890, when Sıdkî received the name Sıdkı from Cemaleddin Çelebi. Yet Kurt writes that Sıdkî settled in Harız in 1894. Either Sıdkî's tie with Harız began before he settled there, or the pen name Pervane was also used later; the sources do not explain this contradiction.

Bibliography

Online sources