طَالَمَا أَيْقَظَكَ الدَّهْرُ فَتَنَاعَسْتَ
Time has often roused you, yet you acted drowsy.
Ayqaẓa means to awaken. Tanāʿasa suggests adopting or displaying drowsiness. The rebuke is therefore directed at evasive indifference after warning, not merely at physical fatigue.
The connective fa makes the response follow the warning immediately. A translation such as “you fell asleep” loses the element of pretence or affected sluggishness that gives the contrast its bite.
Semantic distinction exercise
What is the more precise force of tanāʿasta here?