Perfect travel partner (by Omar Jayyam and Abu Ben Utba)

Of course that perfect travelling partner is wine, good wine; and the journey, rest assured the General Department of Traffic, is not by car, but I use it here as a metaphor for life. Curiously, or perhaps not so much, some of the best praise for wine comes from poets who lived immersed in Islamic culture. This is the case of Omar Khayyam, in quite a few of whose rubaiyat wine appears as a perfect travelling companion. As a sample, see some of those I included in my post Rubayat of Omar Jayyam; or else this one

The moon tore with light the skirt of the night.
Drink wine, a greater moment than this you cannot find.
Be merry and think not, for the moon’s intense light
Gliding over our land, one by one, will illuminate us.

Since we are talking about wine, I cannot resist including these magnificent verses by the Sevillian physician and poet Abu-L-Hach-Chach Ben Utba (13th century)

Look at the reed that rocks the zephyr, bending it towards our glasses.
Is the dew he drank not enough for him, and he needs to swing his plumes in search of wine?
He so sways his waist before the diners, that he entertains the eyes and souls.
Give her to drink from our glasses, for, when she is drunk, we can forgive her for kissing us on the head.