Who Am I? What Is My Love and Hate?

Thee I choose, of all the world, alone;
 Wilt thou suffer me to sit in grief?
 My heart is as a pen in thy hand,
 Thou art the cause if I am glad or in melancholy.
 Save what thou wills, what will have I?
 Save what thou shows, what do I see?
 Thou makes grow out of me now a thorn and now a rose;
 Now I smell roses and now pull thorns.
 If thou keeps me that, that I am;
 If thou would have me this, I am this.
 in the vessel where thou gives colour to the soul,
 Who am I? What is my love and hate?
 Thou wert first, and last thou shall be;
 Makes my last better than my first.
 When thou art hidden, I am of the infidels;
 When thou art manifest, I am of the faithful.
 I have nothing, except thou has bestowed it; 
What dost thou seek from my bosom and sleeve? 

Selected Poems from the Divani Shamsi Tabriz Edited and Translated by R. A. Nicholson