In classical Persian poetry, the beloved's waist is frequently depicted as being extraordinarily thin, often compared to a single strand of hair (موی میان - muy-e miyan). This hyperbolic metaphor serves to emphasize the delicate, elusive, and almost imperceptible nature of the beloved's physical form.

In Attar's Mokhtar Nameh (e.g., Chapter 39, Poem 8), the poet exaggerates this conceit further by claiming the waist is so thin that 'where it is, even a hair can fit.' This physical description is used to symbolize the overwhelming and confounding nature of love, which defies both the heart and the intellect.