Poetry Chaikhana Blog

Ivan M. Granger September 17th, 2008

[43] Detached You are, even from your being,
by Abu-Said Abil-Kheir

English version by Vraje Abramian

Detached You are, even from your being,
and this being is nothing but You.
Unmanifest, yet the manifest is naught
but Your shadow.

Moons, galaxies and worlds drunk from this cup.
And the cupbearer is nowhere to be seen!

— from Nobody, Son of Nobody: Poems of Shaikh Abu-Saeed Abil-Kheir, Translated by Vraje Abramian

/ Photo by jelleprins /

This poem is a beautiful, brief meditation on God as both eternal essence and as the manifestation of material creation.

The so-called ‘real world’ can be said to be unreal because, through direct perception, the mystic sees physical manifestation as only a ghost-like reflection of a deeper, more subtle Reality. The world of tangible things and solid objects is found to be inherently empty and intangible. This is how “the manifest is naught / but Your shadow.” Manifestation only suggests something of the underlying Essence; it is merely an opaque reflection of the “Unmanifest.”

The fundamental nature of all Being is ecstatic or “drunk” bliss, even though not always perceived. All of creation is built upon this bliss and continually fed by this bliss: “Moons, galaxies and worlds drunk from this cup.”

And the irony of this divine game of hide-and-seek: “The cupbearer is nowhere to be seen!” The bestower of bliss, the “cupbearer,” being “unmanifest,” inhabits no space, “is nowhere” and unable to be “seen” in the mundane sense. We are teased and taunted by the endlessly spinning variety of manifestation until we stop looking for some object we can name “God” and, instead, allow ourselves to be overcome by the vast, blissful Reality that is beyond the capability of the eyes to see or the limited mind to comprehend.

Shaikh Abu-Said Abil-Kheir was one of the earlier Sufi poets. He lived more than two centuries before Jelaluddin Rumi yet, like Rumi, much of his mysticism follows a similar path of annihilation in divine Love.

Abu Said’s poetry ranges from the ecstatic and celestial, to struggles with abandonment. His poetry has an immediacy and even a sort of devoutly wry petulance that can draw comparisons with the great Bengali poet, Ramprasad.

Abu Said referred to himself as “Nobody, Son of Nobody,” to convey the mystic’s sense of having completely merged or disappeared into the Divine, leaving no trace of the ego behind.

He lived in Mayhana in what is modern day Turkmenistan, just north of Iran and Afghanistan in Central Asia.

More poetry by Abu-Said Abil-Kheir

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