وَلَيْلٍ كَمَوْجِ الْبَحْرِ أَرْخَى سُدُولَهُ
عَلَيَّ بِأَنْوَاعِ الْهُمُومِ لِيَبْتَلِي
“And many a night like the sea's waves lowered its curtains upon me, with every kind of anxiety, as though to test me.”
Ka-mawji al-baḥr compares the night to the reach, tumult, and dark mass of sea waves. Arkhā sudūlahu gives the night the action of lowering curtains; bi-anwāʿi al-humūm piles up various kinds of grief.
Li-yabtalī presents the night as an examiner. The line does not literally ascribe a conscious intention to darkness: this is personification and metaphorical projection, making the speaker's mental suffering visible as an external force.