عُيَيْنَةُ أمسكتَ العجوز تُريدُها

عَتاداً يُفيدُ اليُسْرَ مَن كان مُعسِرَا

Uyaynah, you have detained the old woman wanting

A loan that would aid one afflicted with poverty

ضَنَنْتَ بأُمِّ الحَيِّ تُغْلِي فِدَاءَها

فَيَا لَكَ رأياً غَيرُهُ كانَ أجْدَرَا

You were stingy with Umm Al-Hayy as her ransom

Oh, how I wish you had chosen better judgment

تَسُومُ زُهيراً أن يَزيدَكَ ضلَّةً

عَلَى مائةٍ لو كان غِرّاً لأكثرا

You barter with Zuhair to increase his misguidance

For more than a hundred if he were an ingrate

رَمَاكَ به مَكراً خَفِيّاً فلم يَزَلْ

يَضيقُ عليكَ الأمرُ حتى تَعَذَّرا

He has fooled you with hidden cunning and did not cease

Until the matter became too difficult for you

لقد كان فيما قالَ أوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ

غِنَىً لَكَ لو كنتَ امرأً مُتَبَصِّرا

Surely what he said the first time

Would have sufficed you, had you been a man of insight

يَظَلُّ يُرِيكَ الزُّهدَ في شَيْخَةٍ لهُ

يَرَاهَا مِنَ الدنيا أجَلَّ وأكبرا

He continues to show you asceticism in his old age

Which he sees as greater and more venerable than the world

فَتَدعوه أقْبِلْ لستُ فيها بِرَاغبٍ

إذا بَلَغَ الأمرُ الفِداءَ الميَسَّرا

So you call him saying, I do not desire it

When the matter of her ransom becomes feasible

فداها بِسِتٍّ لو أبيتَ لَسُقْتَها

إليه بلا شيءٍ وَحَسْبُكَ ما تَرَى

He ransomed her for six, had you refused

You would have given her to him for nothing, and it would suffice what you see

ألَيْسَتْ كما قالَ ابْنُها ما لمثلها

على الضَّنِّ إلا أن تموتَ فَتُقْبَرَا

Is she not, as her son said, one who for the likes of her

Except to die and be buried, there is no alternative to hardship

أما والذي لو شاءَ لم تَعْصِ أمرَهُ

لقد جِئتَ أمراً يا عُيَيْنَةُ مُنكرا

By the One, if He willed, you would not disobey His command

You have come with a reprehensible matter, O Uyaynah

فنفسَكَ فَاحْمِلْها على البرِّ إنّه

لأَربَحُ مِمّا تَحمِلُ الأرضُ مَتْجَرَا

So carry your own self upon righteousness, for it

Is more profitable than what the cultivated land bears

وما طَمَعُ الإنسانِ فيما يفوته

إذا ما دَعَا الدّاعِي فَوَلَّى وأدبرا

And mankind's hopes for what escapes him

If the caller calls and he turns away and leaves