Traveling through distant horizons endows a man⦗1⦘ with graces never found in his own town.
Do you not see the pawn⦗2⦘ on the chessboard? Skillful movement⦗3⦘ lends it a beauty beyond its rank.

The august lady⦗4⦘ Banafsha bint ʿAbd Allah⦗5⦘—a freed slave of the caliph al-Mustaḍīʾ—was among his most favored consorts. After his death she became one of the most charitable of women, noted for her almsgiving, kindness, and beneficence toward scholars and the poor. She sponsored a well-known caravan route to the Ḥijaz, endowed the Hanbalis with a school and lucrative waqfs, and she was buried⦗6⦘ in her own mausoleum⦗7⦘ in Baghdad, beside the tomb of Maʿrūf al-Karkhī⦗8⦘.

Ibn al-Muḥtasib, the poet Abū al-Shukr: Maḥmūd⦗9⦘ ibn Sulaymān ibn Saʿīd al-Mawṣilī—known as Ibn al-Muḥtasib—studied jurisprudence in Baghdad, then traveled through many lands. He kept company with Ibn al-Shahrazūrī and returned with him; when Ibn al-Shahrazūrī became chief judge of Baghdad he appointed him inspector of the Niẓāmiyyah endowments. Ibn al-Muḥtasib was a man of learning⦗10⦘ and composed polished verse, such as the following, written in the al-munsarḥ metre⦗11⦘:

Lend us, in the pure wine of the grape,
all the gold you possess in your keep’s escape.
Stake your very self in a fair exchange,
out of the wealth we hold, let your fortunes range.
All that lies in the purse looks cheap to the wise
when he kisses her mouth with its pearl-bright guise.
Especially when she comes to you shining like gold,
her neck encircled with a string of pearls untold.
The cup-bearer’s hand is burned by the flame
if the goblet delays with her even one turn of the game.
Whenever she appears⦗12⦘, she steals the ear
with the gentle allure of pastime and cheer.