Sivas 2024

Teslim Abdal is even more mysterious than Pir Sultan Abdal. Generally thought to have lived in 17th century, tombs dedicated to him crop up in Çorum, Denizli and even in Keşan (Trakya). A somewhat protean figure his works often come with a bit of polemical bite. He is a figure one can visualise as a wandering ‘abdal’ dervish. But he is no ignorant dervish and while he uses simple language – very effectively – he is also well versed in dervish lodge culture. As the example I translate here demonstrates, he is sharp witted at taunting the false and dissembling especially those who assume the cloak of devoutness.

The lyric here was set to music by the late great Yavuz Top whose gruff voice was the perfect vehicle for the song. Top only performs the first, second and last verses and sets it to terrific tune in 7/8 time.

The version translated below is from volume 3 of İsmail Özmen’s (himself an authority on Teslim Abdal) monumental anthology of Alevi-Bektaşi poetry.  I have added in one extra verse – the second last – that does not appear in Özmen and which I have taken from İbrahim Aslanoğlu’s collection of Teslim Abdal poems. Listening to Top singing the song you get a sense of how good this verse in short 8 syllable lines sounds. One characteristic of this poem is the repetition of the adverbial phrases at the end of each verse. While I am tempted to do a similar repetition in the translation, with a bit of trial and error I felt the translation was more effective in English using synonymous but alliterative words.

In the first line Top sings ‘Dost’ (Friend) rather than Hak (Truth/Right/God). While my translation follows the published text, I retain Top’s variation in the title which could be understood as: ‘Those who used to call us Friend’.

Teslim Abdal ‘Evvel Bize Dost Diyenler’

Translated by Paul Koerbin

Those who used to speak true to us
Went off rumbling and rattling
Those who just seek their desires
Went off whinging and whining

Some sought and found God
Some kept away from God
Some like a cloud with no rain
Went off, blowing and blustering

The merchant is not without taxes due
The truth is clear from his headgear
On the point of saying “It is Truth”
Went off murmuring and mumbling

The lineage of truth is clear
The heavy load strikes the upstanding
Many saying, “What’s the big deal?”
Went off shifting and shoving

Swiftly embracing your defeat
See, that’s friends for you
The one entering this bathhouse surely
Went off sopping and sweating

Teslim Abdal speaks to my very essence
Bringing doubt to my character
Foreign dogs faced with my mystery
Went off braying and barking

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Original text from İsmail Özmen Alevi-Bektaşi Şiirleri Antolojisi (1998) and İbrahim Aslanoğlu, Teslim Abdal (2007)

Evvel bize Hak diyenler
Giırlayı girleyi gitti
Nefsine talip olanlar
Zırlayı zırlayı gitti

Kim aradı Hakk’ı buldu
Kimi Hakk’tan geri kaldı
Kimi yağmaz bulut oldu
Gürleyi gürleyi gitti

Bezirgan kalmaz bacından
Gerçek bellidir tacından
Hakdır demenin ucundan
Vırlayı vırlayı gitti

Bellidir gerçeğin soyu
Ere vurur ağır tayı
Çoğu bunda ne var deyi
Zorlayı zorlayı gitti

İvedir sınığın saran
İşte odur ona yâran
Elbet bu hamama giren
Terledi terledi gitti

Teslim Abdal der zatıma
Şek getiren sıfatıma
Elin iti gaybetime
Hırlayı hırlayı gitti