Muçi ZADE
Muçi Zade is the author of the earliest known Albanian poem written in Arabic script and in the Muslim tradition. The work is taken from a manuscript discovered in Korça and is dated 1724. In this octosyllabic poem, with an AAAB rhyme in the Albanian original, the author laments not having any coffee with which to break his fast at sunset in the Holy Month of Ramadan. Nothing else in known of the elderly Muçi Zade.
Muçi ZADE
Lord, don’t leave me without coffee
By the wonders of the prophets,
By the saints that we acknowledge,
Let me break no fast a-thirsting,
Lord, don’t leave me without coffee.
By the honour of Fatima,
And Meyreme, don’t reject me
With a plate of salty yoghurt,
Lord, don’t leave me without coffee…
Lord, don’t let me break my fast with
Nought to eat but syrup, honey,
Oh God, you are my salvation,
Lord, don’t leave me without coffee.
In the Holy Month we’re marking,
Please forgive our sins, we’re old folk,
By the angels up in heaven,
Lord, don’t leave me without coffee.
By the one whose name means mercy,
By Mohammed, fame be to him,
Don’t desert me with hulled barley,
Lord, don’t leave me without coffee.
To the Lord prays Muçi Zade,
For he wallows in much woe with
Neither rice nor tapioca,
Lord, don’t leave me without coffee!
[Imzot, mos më lerë pa kahve, 1724. Translated by Robert Elsie]