If your skirt (or hem) was wide, why did you yearn for the water vessel? Oh cloud, pour down the strength of God's mercy upon you. The couplet suggests that if one possesses sufficient grace or resources (symbolized by the wide hem), there is no need to yearn for external help (the water vessel). Therefore, O cloud, let the strong mercy of God descend upon you.

This couplet is a profound lament about unmet expectations. The speaker questions why they were made to yearn for something (love, mercy) when the source (the beloved's grace or God's mercy) was supposedly limitless and abundant. It captures the pain of realizing that even when grace is vast, the suffering of longing remains acute. It's a deep philosophical question about desire versus reality.