LessonsʿAmr ibn Kulthūm: Uncertain Time, the Beloved and Grief (Verses 12–22)Quiz

تَذَكَّرْتُ الصِّبَا وَاشْتَقْتُ لَمَّا رَأَيْتُ حُمُولَهَا أُصُلًا حُدِينَا
When I saw her loaded caravan being driven onward in the late afternoon, I recalled youthful love and felt longing again.

Tadhakkartu, ishtaqtu and raʾaytu are all first-person singular forms. Al-ṣibā is youth and its romantic associations; ḥumūluhā denotes her loaded caravan, while uṣulan refers to the later part of the day.

The poem now returns from descriptive portrait to an event: the caravan’s movement rekindles an older emotion.

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Verse 21: Remembering youth as the caravan departs

ʿAmr ibn Kulthūm: Uncertain Time, the Beloved and Grief (Verses 12–22)

تَذَكَّرْتُ الصِّبَا وَاشْتَقْتُ لَمَّا رَأَيْتُ حُمُولَهَا أُصُلًا حُدِينَا
When I saw her loaded caravan being driven onward in the late afternoon, I recalled youthful love and felt longing again.

Tadhakkartu, ishtaqtu and raʾaytu are all first-person singular forms. Al-ṣibā is youth and its romantic associations; ḥumūluhā denotes her loaded caravan, while uṣulan refers to the later part of the day.

The poem now returns from descriptive portrait to an event: the caravan’s movement rekindles an older emotion.