At the outset the site is described as lam takallam—it does not speak. In verse 6 the poet nevertheless addresses it directly: ayyuhā al-rabʿ wa-slam. The two moments complete one another: the house cannot respond, yet the speaker keeps speaking to it.
This is personification, presenting the inanimate as though it could participate in human exchange. The aim is not to report a literal conversation, but to convey how attachment to a place survives the departure of its people.
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At the outset the site is described as lam takallam—it does not speak. In verse 6 the poet nevertheless addresses it directly: ayyuhā al-rabʿ wa-slam. The two moments complete one another: the house cannot respond, yet the speaker keeps speaking to it.
This is personification, presenting the inanimate as though it could participate in human exchange. The aim is not to report a literal conversation, but to convey how attachment to a place survives the departure of its people.