Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Çatılmadan yerin göğün binası
Muallakta iki nur’a düş oldum
Birisi Muhammed, birisi Ali
Lahmike lahmi de bire düş oldum
Ezdi aşkın şerbetini hoş etti
Birisi doldurdu biri nuş etti
İkisi bir derya olup cüş etti
La’l ü mercan inci dür’e düş oldum
O derya yüzünde gezdim bir zaman
Yoruldu kanadım dedim el’aman
Erişti car’ıma bir ulu sultan
Şehinşah bakışlı ere düş oldum
Açtı nikabını ol ulu sultan
Yüzünde yeşil ben göründü nişan
Kaf ü nun suresin ol udum o an
Arş kürs binasında yare düş oldum
Ben Ademden evvel çok geldim gittim
Yağmur olup yağ’dım ot olup bittim
Bülbül olup firdevs bağında öttüm
Bir zaman gül için har’a düş oldum
Adem ile balçık olup ezildim
Bir noktada dört hurufa yazıldım
Ademe calı olup Şit’e süzüldüm
Muhabbet şehrinde kara düş oldum
Mecnun olup Leyla için dolandım
Buldum mahbubumu inanıp kandım
Gılmanlar elinden hulle donandım
Dostun visalinde nar’a düş oldum
On dört yıl dolandım Pervanelikte
SIDKÎ ismim buldum divanelikte
Sundular aşk meyin mestanelikte
Kırkların ceminde dar’a düş oldum
SIDKI’yam çok şükür didara erdim
Aşkın pazarında hak yola girdim
Gerçek ariflere çok meta verdim
Şimdi Hacıbektaş Pire düş oldum

In English

1. Before the building of earth and sky was raised, I fell, suspended in the void, to two lights: one Muhammad, one Ali. Through the secret of "your flesh is my flesh" I fell to the oneness of the two.

2. They pressed the sherbet of love and made it sweet; one poured, the other drank. The two became one sea and surged; and I fell to rubies, coral, pearls and gems.

3. For a time I roamed upon the face of that sea; my wings grew tired and I cried for mercy. A great sultan came to my aid; I fell to a true man with the gaze of the king of kings.

4. That great sultan opened his veil; a green mole appeared on his face as a sign. At that moment I recited the suras Qaf and Nun; I fell to the beloved in the building of the Throne and the Footstool.

5. I came and went many times before Adam; I fell as rain and grew as grass. I sang as a nightingale in the garden of paradise; for a time I fell to the thorn for the sake of the rose.

6. I was kneaded as clay together with Adam; in a single dot I was written into four letters. I became the soul of Adam and flowed down to Seth; in the city of love I came to rest.

7. As Majnun I wandered about for Layla; I found my beloved, believed and was content. I put on the robe of paradise from the hands of the youths of heaven; in union with the Friend I fell into the fire.

8. For fourteen years I wandered as Pervane; in my madness I found my name, Sıdkî. In intoxication they offered me the wine of love; in the cem of the Forty I fell to the dâr.

9. I am Sıdkî; thanks be, I have reached the face of the beloved; in the market of love I entered the path of God. I gave many goods to true gnostics; now I have fallen to the pir Hacı Bektaş.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a koşma of nine quatrains composed in the eleven-syllable metre (the syllable count is ours). The last line of every quatrain ends with the redif "düş oldum" (I fell to); the words before it, "nur'a, bire, dür'e, ere, yare, har'a, kara, nar'a, dar'a, pire", carry the rhyme. The first quatrain has cross rhyme ("binası, Ali"); in the others the first three lines rhyme among themselves. The pen name appears in the eighth and ninth quatrains. A text of the deyiş is also given as an example of the devriye in Necdet Kurt's study; there are small spelling differences between the two texts. The compilation site notes separately that the reading "fourteen thousand years", found in some places in the eighth quatrain, is wrong.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The deyiş is a devriye. The devriye is the genre of Alevi-Bektashi poetry that tells of the soul issuing from the light before creation, travelling through the realms of being and returning to its source. Sıdkî's devriye too begins with Muhammad and Ali being formed from a single light; "lahmike lahmî" (your flesh is my flesh) is part of a hadith reportedly spoken by the Prophet about Ali, used in Alevi poetry to express the oneness of the two. Then the soul roams the sea, reaches a great sultan, becomes rain, grass and nightingale, mingles with Adam's clay and passes on to Seth.

The green mole and the suras Qaf and Nun in the fourth quatrain reflect the Bektashi view that reads the beloved's face like a sacred text. The "four letters" in the sixth quatrain are four letters written in a single dot; which letters are meant is not clear in the deyiş. Majnun and Layla, the youths of paradise and standing at the dâr in the cem of the Forty list the stages of the path of love. In the last quatrain the soul's journey ends with its arrival at the pir Hacı Bektaş; the devriye thus tells the cosmic and the personal adventure of a dervish together.

Historical Context

The eighth quatrain adds a record from Sıdkî's own life to the deyiş: he wandered for fourteen years under the name Pervane and found the name Sıdkî afterwards. According to Necdet Kurt, Cemaleddin Çelebi, head of the Hacıbektaş lodge, said that because of his loyalty the pen name Sıdkı (the sincere one) would suit him better than Pervane, and the pen name changed after fourteen years. The note on the compilation site also says that the pen name was taken when Cemaleddin Çelebi called him "Sıdkı". On this evidence the deyiş must have been composed after the change of pen name, in Sıdkî's mature years.

Bibliography

Online sources