كَأَنَّ مُثَارَ النَّقْعِ فَوْقَ رُؤُوسِنَا
As though the battle dust stirred above our heads…
The poetic image brings together dust rising in battle and gleaming swords, and matches them to the relationship between darkness and scattered bright stars. Its aesthetic power lies in matching dust plus flashing blades with night plus shining stars as organized scenes.
A set of individual likenesses is not identical to a likeness of the whole arrangement. Equating sword with star alone neglects the spatial relationship that makes the scene striking.