Peace Be With You Semitic Roots Poem by Kimberly Burnham

Shalom Alecheim
peace be upon you in Hebrew
a traditional Friday night song

As-salāmuʿalaikum
peace be upon you
in Arabic

Peace for you
in Aramaic and classical Syriac
shlomo 'ahlaykhu

The words have changed
and migrated in to many other languages
from their ancient Semitic roots

Sàlāmǔ-'āláikòng in Mandarin Chinese
Greeks write σαλάμ αλέκουμ
and say salám alékoum

Written in other letters
in Kyrgyz salam aleykum
is салам алейкүм

However you say it I hope
on this Friday night peace finds you
happy and with your community