I live in a house

as cramped

as a lizard's lair

Its sides are so close

to each other

that indeed it is strait

My house is a mold

for my body

When I am in it

I cannot stretch a leg

or a foot

If a flea

on the back of a louse

were to charge

against the ranks of Banū Tamīm

they surely would flee

The critics asserted that description leading to impossibility or absurdity, as in the above four verses, is palatable only if it is intended for derision, disparagement, or ridicule.