«وَآخُذُ اللَّفْظَ فِضَّةً فَإِذَا مَا صُغْتُهُ قِيلَ إِنَّهُ ذَهَبُ»
I take a word like silver; when I shape it, people call it gold.
Fiḍḍah / dhahab establish a hierarchy of precious metals, and ṣughtuhu invokes the goldsmith’s act of shaping. The speaker presents literary composition as a craft that transforms ordinary wording into something prized.
The image is a self-description of skill. It does not mean literal transmutation, nor does it prove that audiences pay for the resulting verses. Artistic worth and commercial success remain distinct claims.
“I make words as precious as gold” is figurative; literal creation of gold is not claimed.