Only God I saw

In the market, in the cloister, only God I saw,
In the valley and on the mountain, only God I saw.
Him I have seen beside me oft in tribulation;
In favour and in fortune - only God I saw.
In prayer and in fasting, in praise and contemplation,
In the religion of the Prophet - only God I saw.
Neither soul nor body, accident nor substance,
Qualities nor causes, only God I saw.
Myself with mine own eyes, I saw most clearly,
But when I looked with God's eyes, only God I saw.
I passed away into nothingness, I vanished,
And lo! I was the All-Living, only God I saw.

                                                           by an 11th. century Sufi poet.