لَمَّا اقْتَعَدْتُ غَارِبَ الاغْتِرَابِ
When I mounted the back of estrangement, as though setting out on a ride.
Ordinary prose could simply say, “When I travelled far from home.” اقْتَعَدْتُ means to mount or sit upon a riding animal; غَارِب refers to the upper part of a camel's back.
The narrator is not claiming to ride a literal camel named “estrangement.” Travel and exile are pictured as a mount, turning an abstract experience into a vivid scene.
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The Ṣanʿāʾ Maqāmah: A Stranger with Empty Provisions
لَمَّا اقْتَعَدْتُ غَارِبَ الاغْتِرَابِ
When I mounted the back of estrangement, as though setting out on a ride.
Ordinary prose could simply say, “When I travelled far from home.” اقْتَعَدْتُ means to mount or sit upon a riding animal; غَارِب refers to the upper part of a camel's back.
The narrator is not claiming to ride a literal camel named “estrangement.” Travel and exile are pictured as a mount, turning an abstract experience into a vivid scene.