Αφέντης μας
by Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī (1207-1273)
I often try to celebrate a poet by posting one of their poems on their birthday and today is Rumi’s birthday. In addition to his native Persian, he wrote poetry in Turkish, Arabic, and Greek. Unfortunately, Greek is the only one of those languages that I can deal with at all adequately.
Αφέντης μας έν κι αγαπούμεν τον
Κι απ’ εκείνον έν καλή η ζωή μας.
Γιατί γύρισες γιατί βρώμισες;
Πέ με τι έπαθες, πέ με τι έχασες;
Άι καρδιά μου, άι ψυχή μου!
Άι το ετούτο μου, άι το εκείνο μου,
Άχ σπί τμου,άχ στέγη μου!
Άχ θησαυρέ μου, αχ χρυσοπηγή!
Έλα καλέ μου, έλα σάχη μου,
Χαρά δεν δίδεις, δός μας άνεμο!
Πού διψά πίνει, πού πονεί λαλεί,
Μηδέν τσάκωσες,καλέ, το γυαλί;
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At the height of the Muslim empire, they maintained a poetic tradition in Persian, Arabic, and Turkish (at least). Which is pretty impressive, given that they are from three different language families.