وَلَقَدْ خَشِيتُ بِأَنْ أَمُوتَ وَلَمْ تَدُرْ لِلْحَرْبِ دَائِرَةٌ عَلَى ابْنَي ضَمْضَمِ
I feared dying before the revolving fortunes of war had overtaken the two sons of Ḍamḍam.
Khashītu is first-person past; lam tadur is a jussive imperfect after lam. Dāʾirat al-ḥarb personifies war as a cycle that returns upon adversaries. The names are part of the poem’s specific historical feud, whose details are developed in the two following lines.
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ʿAntarah ibn Shaddād: Love, Ingratitude, the Wounded Horse and Final Boast (verses 57–75)
وَلَقَدْ خَشِيتُ بِأَنْ أَمُوتَ وَلَمْ تَدُرْ لِلْحَرْبِ دَائِرَةٌ عَلَى ابْنَي ضَمْضَمِ
I feared dying before the revolving fortunes of war had overtaken the two sons of Ḍamḍam.
Khashītu is first-person past; lam tadur is a jussive imperfect after lam. Dāʾirat al-ḥarb personifies war as a cycle that returns upon adversaries. The names are part of the poem’s specific historical feud, whose details are developed in the two following lines.