"Tired of Speaking Sweetly"

A friend gave me the snippet of a poem by Hafiz the other day, and I've found the whole thing. Here it is. From what I've read, Hafiz probably didn't put titles on his poems, particularly since most were probably not even written down but spoken. But this one seems to have the title of "Tired of Speaking Sweetly." Which is, as you'll see, a line from the poem, and which just might become my mantra when I write.

Love wants to reach out and manhandle us,

Break all our teacup talk of God.

If you had the courage and 

Could give the Beloved His choice, some nights,

He would just drag you around the room 

By your hair,

Ripping from your grip all those toys in the world

That bring you no joy.

Love sometimes gets tired of speaking sweetly

And wants to rip to shreds 

All your erroneous notions of truth

That make you fight within yourself, dear one,

And with others,

Causing the world to weep

On too many fine days.

God wants to manhandle us,

Lock us inside of a tiny room with Himself

And practice His dropkick.

The Beloved sometimes wants

To do us a great favor:

Hold us upside down

And shake all the nonsense out.

But when we hear

He is in such a "playful drunken mood"

Most everyone I know

Quickly packs their bags and hightails it

Out of town.