The One Who Sees This World Is You

by Aşık Veysel (Turkish original - Sivas, Turkey)by David Selim Sayers and Evrim Emir-Sayers (English translation - Paris, France)

THIS translation is of the poem “Bu Âlemi Gören Sensin” by the Alevi folk poet and bard Aşık Veysel (1894-1973).1 You can hear it performed by Aşık Veysel himself at this link.

The one who sees this world is youNothing veils that eye of yoursThe one who spares the cruel is youHow is this no fault of yours?

The universe is what you bearYou made it all out of thin airAnd then you cast me out all bareWhere is that largesse of yours?

Are you groom or cavalier?Are you one without a peer?Are you the light in heaven’s sphere?The flash of lightning too is yours

The despot monk, his church to runDeclared that Jesus is God’s sonTo Mother Mary, wha’ve you done?What business was that, pray, of yours?

Who’re you scared of that you hide?You’ve been sought out, you’ve been spiedShow your face, cast off your prideThe light conceals that face of yours

One shape you have, a thousand namesNo son, no daughter, kin to claimEvery color suits your frameWherever I turn, that is yours

Many myriad tongues you haveMany awkward states you haveOh how dark, the ways you haveWhere’s that Sırat bridge2 of yours?

You cast Adam out exposedHeaven’s gates, he found them closedSo why not the devil roast?What’s it for, that hell of yours?

Your reason, Veysel, will not doYour tongue, if short or long, fails tooNo hand may hold, no eye may viewThis mystery, untold, is yours

Also by Aşık Veysel:

Dark EarthI’m on a Long and Narrow RoadLet My Friends Remember Me

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1. The word aşık (Arabic for “lover”) denotes a wandering bard inspired by mystical love.↑2. According to various religious traditions including Zoroastrianism and Islam, this is a bridge over hell, thinner than a strand of hair and sharper than a sword, that every human must cross on judgement day to make it into heaven.↑