«يَا مَنْ تَظُنُّ السَّرَابَ مَاءً / لَمَا رَوَيْتَ الَّذِي رَوَيْتُ»
O you who mistook a mirage for water when I told the tale I told!
Abū Zayd’s image of mistaking a mirage for water comments on the earlier events. It is not simply an ornamental simile. The image frames the narrator’s misplaced confidence as an error of perception, recasting what had seemed genuine assistance or hospitality.
The verbal echo strengthens that retrospective effect. Yet the poem is a character’s interpretation of events, not an independent court judgment. This is an important technique of closure: a late speech can reorganize the meaning of preceding scenes, while still requiring critical scrutiny.