«مُوتْ يَا حْمَارْ لَمَّا يْجِيكِ الْعَلِيقْ»

The saying sneers at a promise that keeps getting pushed back. Here لَمَّا means 'until,' not 'when,' and العَلِيق is animal fodder: the donkey will be dead before the promised feed arrives. Help that is always about to come is useless to someone who cannot survive the waiting.

It also exposes empty reassurance. The speaker sees through a pledge of future relief that is really stalling: endless deferral amounts to refusal, since delay causes the harm the promise should prevent. Addressing the donkey is rhetorical; the scorn targets the promise and its delay, not necessarily the one kept waiting.

Say it wryly when someone keeps postponing a promised favor, payment, or fix so long that the need will be gone, or the person ruined, before it arrives. It suits complaints about stalling officials, patrons, or bosses, and sounds informal and somewhat sardonic.