شَعْرِيَthat I knew

Example sentences

• لَيْتَ شَعْرِيَ وَقَدْ تَمَادَى بِكَ الْهَجْرُ أَمْ مِنْكَ التَّفْرِيطُ أَمْ كَانَ مِنِّي،

  I wish I knew: now that estrangement toward you has gone so far, was the negligence yours, or was it mine?

  شَعْرِيَ — that I knew. A noun with an attached 'my' on its end forming a set idiom that, with the wishing particle before it, yields 'would that I knew'. The attached possessor is the first person. The phrase is conventional, its parts read as a single wish.

  From: On Foolishness and Wisdom →