LessonsZuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā: Abandoned Dwellings, Recognition After Twenty Years, and Greeting the Ruins (Verses 1–6)Quiz

وَدَارٌ لَهَا بِالرَّقْمَتَيْنِ كَأَنَّهَا ۞ مَرَاجِيعُ وَشْمٍ فِي نَوَاشِرِ مِعْصَمِ
Meaning: Another dwelling of hers lies at al-Raqmatayn; its remaining marks resemble the faint or recurring lines of tattooing visible around the raised parts of a wrist.

Marājīʿu washm points to the fine, dispersed lines of a tattoo. Nawāshir miʿṣam evokes the visible surfaces or vein-like features about the wrist on which such lines appear. The simile transfers the delicacy of a nearly effaced bodily mark to the traces of a deserted dwelling.

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Verse 2: traces like tattoos on a wrist

Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā: Abandoned Dwellings, Recognition After Twenty Years, and Greeting the Ruins (Verses 1–6)

وَدَارٌ لَهَا بِالرَّقْمَتَيْنِ كَأَنَّهَا ۞ مَرَاجِيعُ وَشْمٍ فِي نَوَاشِرِ مِعْصَمِ
Meaning: Another dwelling of hers lies at al-Raqmatayn; its remaining marks resemble the faint or recurring lines of tattooing visible around the raised parts of a wrist.

Marājīʿu washm points to the fine, dispersed lines of a tattoo. Nawāshir miʿṣam evokes the visible surfaces or vein-like features about the wrist on which such lines appear. The simile transfers the delicacy of a nearly effaced bodily mark to the traces of a deserted dwelling.