‘Abīd 1:21-26

    Live by what you will. Weakness does not preclude success.
        A man of expertise can still be duped.
    A man who cannot learn from fate cannot be taught by people,
        not even if they take him by the scruff.
    What are hearts but inborn tempers?
        How many hate their former friends?
    Lend a hand in any land while you sojourn there.
        Never say: "But I am alien to this place."
    In favor of alliance with a stranger from afar,
        nearby relations are sometimes severed.
    And as long as a man may live, he is in denial.
        Long life is his punishment.

From the Mu‘allaqa of ‘Abīd ibn al-Abraṣ

A floating bridge of Baghdad

A Bedouin passed by a pontoon bridge, then gave a versified description of it unlike anything by anyone I know (meter: basīṭ):

    Along the corniche, friends linger and disperse
        by the Tigris post where the flood is spanned by a bridge of boats.
    Viewed from one side, it's like a string of Bactrian camels
        flanking each other crosswise in their tethers,
    some followed by their young, some adolescents
        treading dung, and some that are fair old milchers.
    No coming home from travels for these camels.
        Any time they move, their steps are short,
    bound by ropes of palm dyed different colors
        and fixed with pegs of iron in their sides.

One of the Unparalleled Poems from the Book of Prose and Poetry by
Ibn Abi Tahir Tayfur (d. 893 CE)