when love is one-way

If you feel no desire for me, then say so.

If you live without love, alone, I want to know.

If your heart holds no place for me, then say so.

Say if it's so, or say no, but tell me the truth.

#1582: From Rumi's Kolliyaat-e Shams-e Tabrizi
this version here

If you feel any desire for me, then say so.
If you live without love, alone, I want to know.
If your heart holds a place for me, then say so.
Say if it 's so, or say no, but tell me the truth.

Today's quatrain has an original translation by Zara Houshmand, which she has replaced with a second. I've chosen the original to place up top because it's the one I like better. Either version works but each leans more to one side of the equation that measures the beloved's corresponding longing or indifference.

It's true that when one longs for a particular beloved it comes as a great relief to know, one way or the other, whether s/he reciprocates the feeling. If not, then the magic works only one way. This verse has a fairly high numbering but a fairly raw feel to it, something I've come across before. It suggests to me that the verses are not numbered chronologically but, probably more plausibly, according to some later editor's assessment of the verses' quality. It's a pity because there might have been a coherent story or development revealed in the chronological order. And then again, there might not.