وَاكْتَحَلْنَا السُّهَادَ
And we applied sleeplessness as if it were kohl.
Iktihāl means applying kohl. Suhād is wakefulness or sleeplessness. The metaphor places an intangible hardship where a visible cosmetic substance would ordinarily be.
A flat rendering such as “we did not sleep” communicates the circumstance but erases the crafted image. Retaining the kohl metaphor explains how the experience of deprivation is made physical.
Semantic distinction exercise
What creates the figurative force of “we applied sleeplessness as kohl”?