The contemplation (or desire) was for them to arrive, but tell me, what was this style of denial?

This couplet speaks to the painful gap between intent and action. The poet is acknowledging that the desire (tammul) for the beloved to come was certainly present. But the true agony, the source of the question, is not the rejection itself, but the *manner* of the refusal. The speaker asks, 'What was the style of refusal?' It suggests that the way the rejection was delivered was more devastating than the rejection itself.