Do not think there is no end to suffering, this world too will pass,
Like the mortal life, the day shall pass and this moment of breath shall pass,
Sorrow cannot decide, cheerfull laughter shall also pass,
Era of bliss shall pass, grief shall also pass,
Night and day disappear, and the moment passes away,
This manifestation of life has weighed me down with love,
Is it the flood of tears, or the separation blues?
I wonder if it is the low note of the instrument of fortune?
The film of these things is played by the hand of destiny,
The reed flute falls silent, the wine pours, all that uproar of community shall also pass,
If you’ve taken an example, if you’ve read it, you’ve learned from this world,
See if you can save your soul from this world and the fuss within,
Find the purpose of creation from the universe of love,
Starting from nothingness, ending in good for nothing, from this vain case
Ashamed, with the ardor of forgiveness, the hell shall pass.
Neither sharî’at, nor tarîqat, nor truth, nor justice,
This sphere cannot rule as long as they live
God to close the ignorant’s book that smells of fear!
According to the verdict of the court of divine knowledge ,
Paradise fails, and the legend of Adam shall also pass.
Listen to the words of the vagabond Neyzen with your love,
These realms have not entered into this eye beyond comparison.
The power of his ignorance did not make him look at his own essence.
The rose-giver becomes the old man, his face cannot be looked at,
God becomes the saloon keeper, the conversation of companions shall also pass.
Neyzen Tevfik’s poem with the title “passes”, which is one of the most beautiful poems in his repertoire in terms of sound and words as well as the world of meaning, offers us a unique opportunity to see how the eternal wheels of the universe and existence appear through the mortality of life. The poem, which consists of five lines and five cantos, is one in which the rhyme “passes” is used perfectly, and in which the main figures of speech, propositions and compositions of our traditional/gnostic poetry find a place for themselves.
It starts like this:
Do not think there is no end to suffering, this world too will pass,
Like the mortal life, the day shall pass and this moment of breath shall pass,
Sorrow cannot decide, cheerfull laughter shall also pass,
Era of bliss shall pass, grief shall also pass,
Night and day disappear, and the moment passes away,
This world is mortal, nothing is eternal, and suffering, pain and sorrow are also temporary. Not only suffering, but this “realm” is also ephemeral. The poet said, “What day have you seen that is not evening?” The day is evening. Suffering is not completely removed from the face of the earth, nor is man drowned in suffering; a smile is put on the face of suffering so as not to make it tiresome, that’s all. So there is an end to suffering, don’t think otherwise. The sufferer thinks that time will not pass and there will be no end to suffering. This is an illusion. With patience, any kind of suffering can be tolerated, because it will pass. It will even give way to joy when the sorrow passes. It has been said that the disappearance of pain is pleasure.
The transience of suffering is just like life, which is fleeting. Just as the day passes, so does the moment… Moment (Tr. Dem) means “time” and “breath”. Day gives way to night and night to day. Seconds, seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years… in short, a supposedly “whole” lifetime passes in the blink of an eye. In old terms, it is called in the blink of an eye (Tr. tarfetü’l-ayn)… Life is like the blink of an eye. Life is like a traveler in the desert who sleeps for a short time under the shade of a tree. Life is a dream. It is a dream within a dream. Sorrow is not permanent, grief cannot last forever; joyful laughter is transitory, so are moments of happiness, so are the pangs of grief, day and night fade away, the moment of the living being’s breathing ends.
In the second part, Neyzen speaks of how the vicissitudes of life have bent his back with love:
This manifestation of life has weighed me down with love,
Is it the flood of tears, or the separation blues?
I wonder if it is the low note of the instrument of fortune?
The film of these things is played by the hand of destiny,
The reed flute falls silent, the wine pours, all that uproar of community shall also pass,
Life has many manifestations, happenings and vicissitudes. Cilve, the Turkish word used for that in the poem means the parting of the veil from the face, revealing it. Love takes one out of the routine and because it is “fierce affection”, it tires one, bends one’s back, makes one weep, stirs the flood of separation blues in one’s heart… The poet asks even though he knows: Is it tears or the agony of being separated from one’s original home? That flood of anguish? Perhaps it is the low note of fate and accident that is moaning, who knows, how can anyone know? The movie of this present is being played by the hand of fate. Things means deeds, occurrences, phenomena. In the verse “Allah is in a new state every moment” (Sûrah Rahman, verse 29), it means “Divine work, becoming”. Neyzen uses the concept of “things” in a way that is close to its meaning in the Qur’an: These things, happenings, situations, phenomena, events, are a movie “played by the hand of fate”. People make plans, fate laughs… So there comes a moment when suddenly the reed flute stops playing, the goblet, which is a source of inspiration, is overturned, the wine is spilled, and the sounds of ‘cem’, of unity, of being together, of community, are gone.
In the third part, Neyzen advises people to take alesson from all these occurrences and processes:
If you’ve taken an example, if you’ve read it, you’ve learned from this world,
See if you can save your soul from this world and the fuss within,
Find the purpose of creation from the universe of love,
Starting from nothingness, ending in good for nothing, from this vain case
Ashamed, with the ardor of forgiveness, the hell shall pass.
Look at it with the eyes of example and wisdom, take lessons from what is happening, the world is tricky, here beauty and majesty is mixed, it is deceptive, cruel, deceitful; try to save your soul, don’t get caught up in this world, nor in the afterworld, the immanent, the beyond… Get rid of duality. There is no here and there. There is nothing but Him. The title of Being is reserved only for Him. There is only God. Look at Him, try to be in the moment, seek His pleasure, the rest is nothing. No love of the world, no fear of fire, no longing for paradise… Only the pleasure of Allah… This is what befits a human being. Try to see and understand why you were created, why all this existence exists, look carefully at the realm of love, see its angelic realm. It is a vain case with no beginning and no end. As the poet said: “He who has a cause has no meaning.” Get out of the dungeon of ego, don’t say “I am I”, transform your ego, the one with the cause of ego can never reach “meaning”. Do so because hell will be ashamed of His infinite forgiveness.
In the next part, Neyzen makes assertions that may at first surprise the general perception and come across as frame breaking, but when looked at carefully and in depth, one realizes that they are spoken from the “level of heart/divine knowledge”:
Neither sharî’at, nor tarîqat, nor truth, nor justice,
This sphere cannot rule as long as they live
God to close the ignorant’s book that smells of fear!
According to the verdict of the court of divine knowledge ,
Paradise fails, and the legend of Adam shall also pass.
It can be said that as long as this world exists, the phenomena called “sharia, tariqa, truth or tradition” will not be able to enforce their rulings indefinitely. These phenomena only come into being when it is the will of the Truth. This place does not operate with a “becoming” that depends on our will and volition. The “ignorant” is only the one who believes in the Creator whom he fears. He will be dealt with by the Almighty. The verdict of the court of divine knowledge is a disappointment for those who are driven by the love of “paradise”: Because even the “formal paradise” is temporary, and the “narrative” about Adam is ignorant of the mystery of existence.
In the last part, he uses the pseudonym “Vagabond” both as a pseudonym and in the sense of being ecstatic with the love of God:
Listen to the words of the vagabond Neyzen with your love,
These realms have not entered into this eye beyond comparison.
The power of his ignorance did not make him look at his own essence.
The rose-giver becomes the old man, his face cannot be looked at,
God becomes the saloon keeper, the conversation of companions shall also pass.
You should listen with love to the words of Neyzen, who is intoxicated with the wine of divine love. Anyway, the word will reach the listener wherever it originates from the speaker. All these worlds never entered His beautiful eyes.
Describing himself as “ignorant”, this Great Spirit, stating that his ignorance prevents him from looking at his own essence, reaches the pinnacle of humility and puts the burden of meaning of the entire poem on the last two lines:
The rose-faced cupbearer, the perfect human being, also becomes a an old man, grows old, becomes decrepit, may become detached from the questions and problems of new times; no one will look at his decrepit state, his face. The spiritual guide, the perfect human, becomes dust, the words of his age become obsolete, outdated… That too passes.
