1. The thief, a master of cunning, stole
Some wealth from the pocket of Abdel Theraa

2. Through trickery, wariness and precaution
He endured a thousand burdens

3. He wore fear and clothed terror
His life in his hands amid trials

4. He sought sustenance for his family
When dire poverty had straitened spaciousness

5. If only God had prevented him from the moment
He was driven to this heinous scheme

6. By my life, he was no thief
Had he been raised among honorable men

7. They would have refined him and imbued him with vigor
And avoidance of harm and evils

8. They would have taught him to rely on souls
To produce diligence for prosperity and growth

9. The germ of vices within us
Was born of the heedlessness of fathers

10. Some of the boys precede others in emaciation
Due to poor diet

11. And girls fairer than angels
Weeping under misery

12. Around a mother with ulcerous eyelids
From the adversities of scarcity and meagerness

13. Wearing nakedness, no gown covers her
The bite of cold, no kindling warmth

14. How many days, how many nights she spent
Between wailing, regret, and supplication

15. Tattered, without gowns or roof
Rained upon by clouds' water

16. No rug, no bed, no pillow
No lamp gaining some glow

17. Darkness, lightning and thunder
And winds blowing in winter

18. The grave became in her eyes a better palace
And death itself the essence of bliss

19. The husband sat idle, without work
Like the rest of the peasants

20. He became a thief hoping through scandal
To escape the woe of insolvency and affliction

21. He stalked the banker after leaving
Walking in the market at nightfall

22. He approached him, heart trembling
On a deserted road, lacking overseers

23. He swiftly extended a hand to a pocket
Containing a thousand silvery coins

24. He stole the money then hurried away
Between despair and hope

25. He reached home after melting exertion
Safe from the surveillance of onlookers

26. With a heart seeking subsistence to live
And a conscience fearing divine wrath

27. He entered the house, face overflowing with glad tidings
Deeming himself one of the wealthy

28. He poured out the money laughing before
Lads unaware of the taste of broth

29. They all rejoiced at the riches after poverty
Then slept in felicity and comfort

30. The neighbor suddenly looked out from his roof
Returning like war itself when he discovered the secret

31. How many despicable souls pretend
To be sincere when they are deceitful

32. Sowing evil in place of good out of hatred
Though hatred is the trait of fools

33. He went to inform on his neighbor to no avail
To the authorities anonymously

34. The police knocked on the door past midnight
The sleepers rose hurriedly in their gowns

35. They inspected the streets noisily in crowds
Disturbing the horizons with their clamour

36. They left their sleep running without cover
Save heaven's cover and darkness

37. Some, crushed by the crowds, trampled others
Asking the policeman with gestures

38. What woe and what news disturbed us
Such is the curiosity of ignoramuses

39. They seized the thief after beating and cursing
Shackled and dragged him spitefully

40. Between sobbing that rends hearts with sorrow
And the wailing of women and children

41. Unaware whether awake or dreaming
Of the sudden calamity he saw

42. They threw him in prison among hundreds
Of coarse, foolish evil men

43. They provoked him to commit sins
And transgressions even bloodshed

44. Once fearing the theft of money
Today he socialized with the wretched

45. Such has been the state of prisons for a millennium
In the lands of ignoramuses and fools

46. But prison deters its inmates
From the actions of tyrants and villains

47. It has education, trades, and work
To earn the ethics of the cultured

48. Well structured, meticulously designed, radiant
Wholesome life, bringing prosperity

49. It has books that forcibly refine manners
Medicine that heals the worst malady

50. It has people to guide every stray
With wise and lucid talk

51. Thus is prison in gifted lands
Whose owners espouse advancement

52. Unlike a prison containing a hell of evils
Where the flaws of the vile proliferate

53. After a month, the thief's wife headed
To the sanctuary of the chief of judges

54. A chamberlain with jaundiced complexion barred her way
They entered her into a chamber with a throne

55. Above it a deceitful pompous man
She kissed the hem of his garment and knelt

56. So he glanced at her haughtily
She asked him to release her sinful husband

57. Out of mercy for her daughters and sons
And tried to bribe him with some hundreds of coins

58. But he refused her harshly and coldly
Saying, why not placate some of my comrades

59. For leaders depend on their members
She left with copious tears flowing

60. To a judge proud of obscenity
He wanted her to gain his approval

61. As the fool desires from a beauty
She was appalled, wailed, then retreated

62. Futilely, from the corrupt charlatan
Her husband and fellow thieves remained jailed

63. And attained misery and agony
The big thieves became judges

64. Of petty thieves, people of woe
They seized money by force and plundered

65. Honor publicly, being of notables
And when asked who merits high station

66. It's said this and that one, without doubt
And when the virtuous are counted one day

67. They're deemed among the wisest minds
Can this and the like bring rectitude?

68. No, by the Lord of tidings and prophets!