Pir Sultan Abdal

Pir Sultan Abdal (ca. 1480 - 1550) was an Alevit poet. Alevits are the members of the Alevitism, a faith community in Islam. He lived in Turkey and wrote his poems in Turkish. In his poems, he used a direct and clear language. The richness of his thoughts and the beauty of his writing made him very popular to the Turks and Kurds and also the members of the Suni sect of Islam. Pir Sultan Abdal wrote about the social, cultural and religious life of the people. He was a humanist, and wrote about love, peace, death and God. He was also rebellious against Ottoman Empire.

Poetry

Turkish		English
Dostun bahçesine bir hoyrat girmiş Korudur hey benli dilber korudur Gülünü dererken dalını kırmış Kurudur hey benli dilber kurudur Şu meydanda serilidir postumuz Çok şükür Mevlâ'ya gördük dostumuz Bir gün kara toprak bürür üstümüz Çürütür hey benli dilber çürütür Kendisi okur da kendisi yazar Hak hilâl kaşına eylemiş nazar Senin akranların cennette gezer Hürüdür hey benli dilber hürüdür Hangi dinde isen ona tapayım Yarın mahşer günü bile kopayım Eğil bir yol ak gerdandan öpeyim Beri dur hey benli dilber beri dur Pîr Sultan Abdal'ım başından başlar İyisini yer de kemini taşlar Bin çiçekten bir kovana bal işler Arıdır hey benli dilber arıdır		To the garden of my love there came an evil louder The shrubs now lie there, my fair one, shrubs lie While gathering the roses, he broke their stems to moulder They are all dry, my fair one, they are all dry. We've spread our prayer hide all over this place We saw our dearest one to Holy God in grace One day, all of us will come into the Earth's embrace We'll putrefy, my fair one, we'll putrefy. God Himself reads the fate, Himself he scribes He closed the crescent lashes of her beautiful eyes Your peers are walking now with you in Paradise houris they are, my fair one, houris, fair my. Whatever your creed be, I will adore it and pray To be awaken together with you on Judgement Day Rise up once more to kiss your white throat that I may Don't pass for one more trice, my fair, don't pass by. I am Pir Sultan Abdal, the first of the firsts, I feed my soul with the best and remedy the worst I'll pool honey from thousand blooms to one comb till it bursts I am the bee, my fair one, the bee am I.