BELOVED HAS NO WAIST: We already know that the beloved's delicate little rosebud mouth is so microscopic that she basically has no mouth at all: on this see 91,4 . (For a bizarre verse that deprives her of fingers, see 50,8x .) In the ghazal world, with its love of hyperbole and extravagance, the beloved is also so gracefully slender that she doesn't merely have a tiny waist []-- her waist is so small that it's invisible, she essentially has no waist at all. For other, more abstract uses of this conceit, see 100,3 and 389x,5 . ABOUT EROTIC SUGGESTION: Nazm rightly points to the erotic overtone of the second line-- 'Don't I know your waist?' Implying, of course, 'Am I not your lover, have I not held you in my arms?' (Though Nazm is too refined to actually say it.) Ghalib's erotic suggestions are almost all of this kind: they work, as this one does, through speech and the power of implication . The same pattern of subtle but unlimited erotic suggestion can be seen in 82,4x with its emphasis on tight clothing; in 138,5 , in which 'there's a tongue in my mouth too', and in the clever wording of 116,1 , 'tell me with your mouth'. (And for an erotic use of teeth, see 378x,4 .) In 108,5 , the evocative image is that of an untied sash. In 111,3 , it's the star-maidens coming out at night, 'naked/unveiled'. (By contrast, how ineffective and unexciting is the more explicit 97,7 .) In 111,8 , the suggestion is all the more potent for being indirect. For two such elegantly suggestive verses in a single ghazal, see 116,1 and 116,9 . In 151,7 , the beloved has suddenly become free with her kisses. Compare also the Atish verse quoted in Nazm's commentary on 164,9 . In 172,2 and 428x,8 we have things that happen 'while embracing'; in 194,5 we have a clear evocation of 'union'. And in 227,2 we have some markedly suggestive behavior as the spring breeze penetrates the rosebud. On the 'heat' of the knotted sash: 312x,3 ; on the knot in the sash as a 'bud', see 377x,5 . There are also several instances in 356x , which has the r efrain 'pillow'. For more verses with erotic themes, see the whole 'union' set: 5,2 . When you set out to do something in English, you traditionally (and Biblically) 'gird up your loins'. In Urdu, you idiomatically 'bind up your waist' [] for action. But of course, since the beloved has no waist to bind up, this threat has no force. The combination of a stylized extravagance with a lively idiom creates a delightful verse. It's further energized by the untranslatable idiom , which here means something like (in a tone of indignation) 'what the hell! as if I'd do that!' (The use of the third-person verb form-- instead of -- serves to further distance the action from the speaker.) For more on the expression , which is short for , see 58,1 . graphics/corset.jpg