فَوَقَفْتُ أَسْأَلُهَا وَكَيْفَ سُؤَالُنَا ۞ صُمًّا خَوَالِدَ مَا يَبِينُ كَلَامُهَا
So I stood questioning the deserted dwellings—but how can one question silent, enduring remains that cannot make their words intelligible?
Fa-waqaftu asʾaluhā shows the speaker standing still and addressing the remains. Wa-kayfa suʾālunā is a rhetorical question: it exposes the futility of seeking a reply. “Ṣumman khawālida” describes the ruins as mute and long-enduring. The address completes the opening contrast between recollection and the silence of what survives.