«اِلسَّنَه السُّودَهْ خَمَسْتَاشَرْ شَهْرْ»

The saying points out that hardship distorts our sense of time. Here a "black" year means a grim, ill-fated one, with no reference to color or ethnicity. A year of calamity does not feel like twelve ordinary months; it seems to stretch well beyond its true length.

The fifteen months is a deliberate exaggeration, not a literal count. By inflating the number, the proverb voices a common perception: good periods slip by quickly, while dark stretches feel heavy and drawn out. It names that shared experience with a touch of rueful humor.

Fitting when someone complains that a run of misfortune drags on endlessly, or to sympathize with a person enduring prolonged trouble. It acknowledges how slowly hard times seem to pass, with a wry, resigned tone rather than offering a solution or promise of relief.