Mar Uqva had a pauper in his town
He’d slip four coins each day beneath his door.
The poor man wondered: “Where can he be found–
The one who does me good? Who helps the poor?”

It chanced that once Mar Uqva came home late
His wife came with him on that fateful day.
The pauper heard the coin and didn’t wait.
He stepped out. “Quick,” cried Uqva, “run away.”

The Uqvas feared: “We have no time to spare!”
They jumped into a furnace hot and red.
His feet burned, “Ouch!”; but she seemed not to care
“Because I give them food,” Ms. Uqva said.

We learn: A man should rather suffer flame
Than publicly cause someone else’s shame.