Raʿy is grazing, īrād bringing animals to a watering place, and ghimār deep water. Normally these sustain life; the poet transfers the same vocabulary to bloodshed.
The reversal generates the meaning: instead of refreshment, the participants find weapons and blood. War is shown as transforming a life-sustaining routine into a scene of destruction.
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Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā: Ḥuṣayn ibn Ḍamḍam, Revenge and the Cost of Bloodshed (Verses 33–42)
Raʿy is grazing, īrād bringing animals to a watering place, and ghimār deep water. Normally these sustain life; the poet transfers the same vocabulary to bloodshed.
The reversal generates the meaning: instead of refreshment, the participants find weapons and blood. War is shown as transforming a life-sustaining routine into a scene of destruction.