Tired of speaking sweetly - Hafiz, 14th century Sufi poet

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” 
almost everyone I know 
quickly packs their bags and hightails it 
out of town.

(The Gift – versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)