Yunus Emre

Yunus Emre (1240?–1321?) was a Turkish Sufi poet. His influence as a poet and as a Sufi teacher in Turkish speaking lands from Eastern Europe to Central Asia is immense. He expressed the highest spiritual truth of Divine Love, the states of mind during the spiritual journey, and the Sufi metaphysics based on the concept of Unity of Being in simple terms in his poetry.

Yunus Emre’s most recited poem in Turkish

 

 

Aşkın aldı benden beni
Bana seni gerek seni
Ben yanarım dünü günü
Bana seni gerek seni

Ne varlığa sevinirim
Ne yokluğa yerinirim
Aşkın ile avunurum
Bana seni gerek seni

Aşkın aşıklar öldürür
Aşk denizine daldırır
Tecelli ile doldurur
Bana seni gerek seni

Aşkın şarabından içem
Mecnun olup dağa düşem
Sensin dünü gün endişem
Bana seni gerek seni

Sufilere sohbet gerek
Ahilere ahret gerek
Mecnunlara Leyla gerek
Bana seni gerek seni

Eğer  beni öldüreler
Külüm göğe savuralar
Toprağım anda çağıra
Bana seni gerek seni

Yunus’durur benim adım
Gün geçtikçe artar odum
Îki cihanda maksudum
Bana seni gerek seni

English Translation [1] [2]

Your love has wrested me away from me,
You’re the one I need, you’re the one I crave
Day and night I burn, gripped by agony,
You’re the one I need, you’re the one I crave

I find no great joy being alive,
If I cease to exist, I would not grieve,
The only solace I have is your love,
You’re the one I need, you’re the one I crave

Lovers yearn for you, but your love slays them,
At the bottom of the sea it lays them,
It has God’s images – it displays them,
You’re the one I need, you’re the one I crave

Even if, at the end they make me die
And scatter my ashes up to the sky,
My pit would break into this outcry:
You’re the one I need, you’re the one I crave

Let me drink the wine of love sip by sip,
Like Mecnun, live in the hills in hardship,
Day and night, care for you holds me in its grip,
You’re the one I need, you’re the one I crave

‘Yunus Emre the mystic’ is my name,
Each passing day fans and rouses my flame,
What I desire in both worlds is the same:
You’re the one I need, you’re the one I crave

Another poem from “Yunus Emre: His Life and Selected Poems” by Faruk Dilaver.

You are the soul of my soul, and
I have no peace without You,
If You are not in paradise, I swear
I will never even look up there.

Wherever I look my eyes see only You,
Whatever I say my words are only You,
My only desire is to be Your witness,
And yet I have no desire.

Traveling on my way to You,
I have forgotten myself already,
Whatever I say, whatever state I’m in,
Without You, I have no peace.

If You kill me and bring me back to life
Seventy times, like Cercis, just
Take me back to You again,
I have lost all my pride in Your love.

Yunus falls into Your love too,
So reveal Your face to him,
You are my only Beloved, my heart
Is in love with nothing but You.

[1] Bibliography prepared by Turgut Durduran

[2] T.S. Halman, “The Humanist Poetry of Yunus Emre”, , R.C.D. Cultural Institute, No.39, Istanbul Matbaasi, Istanbul, Turkey.