A person may have serious knowledge but speak without restraint; another may speak beautifully without possessing sound judgment. The couplet pairs thought and expression as complementary human capacities.
The repeated nisf (“half”) creates a balanced structure. The second hemistich then reduces the remaining body to its visible physical form, completing the rhetorical distinction between intellect expressed through speech and mere appearance.
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Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā: Mortality, Generosity, Self-Respect and Wisdom of Speech (Verses 53–62)
A person may have serious knowledge but speak without restraint; another may speak beautifully without possessing sound judgment. The couplet pairs thought and expression as complementary human capacities.
The repeated nisf (“half”) creates a balanced structure. The second hemistich then reduces the remaining body to its visible physical form, completing the rhetorical distinction between intellect expressed through speech and mere appearance.