ولله خصرٌ تجاوز أن

ولله خصرٌ تجاوز أن

يُقال النّحولُ تناهى إليه

يُقال النّحولُ تناهى إليه

And praise be to God for a waist that has gone beyond

For God has a waist beyond imagining—

the claim that slenderness has reached its utmost in it.

Too slender, they say, for the narrowest sight.

وأعجبُ من أن يقول نحيلٌ

وأعجبُ من أن يقول نحيلٌ

بماذا استدلّ النحولُ عليه

بماذا استدلّ النحولُ عليه

And I marvel that a slender one should say:

But stranger than this, how can one so lean

“By what means did slenderness find its way to it?”

Prove himself slender by such a device?