«فَالْمَوْتُ خَيْرٌ لِلْفَتَى مِنْ عَيْشِهِ عَيْشَ الْبَهِيمَةِ»
The lament describes a life stripped of dignity in exceptionally bleak terms.
This is a speaker's poetic expression of desperation, not a general moral or religious ruling about the value of living. The word bahīmah evokes the loss of agency, honor and human standing as he experiences them.
The literary contrast is deliberate: after radiant family, a near-paradisal homeland and confident youth, the speaker uses the lowest image he can find for his present existence.