An encomium is a piece of writing dedicated to, and celebrating, some person.  It’s not a form of worship, exactly, but an acknowledgement of a being’s particular excellence and dignity.  This poem is intended to be an encomium to Ganesh, the elephant-headed remover of obstacles from Hinduism.  I wrote it today, inspired in part by one of the recommended posts on Jack’s blog. Jack is a new subscribed reader, and this seemed like a good way to connect my goal of being more consciously magical, and more frequently poetical.

Elephant-headed, most serene, divine,
patron of words, and intellect and art:
Ganesha obstacle-remover, deign
to break bonds, and drive barriers apart.
By noose and goad and broken tusk and sweet,
Lord of Categories, you are revered;
Your hands make oblation; your dancing feet
ride upon the mouse — your chariot, long-eared.
You put stumbling blocks before the proud
who plan out evil, and so must be checked.
But well do you love those who live out loud:
these with garlands of wonders stand bedecked.
Ganesha, grant me these marvels to share —
hurdles pulled back and a race without care.

Ok, not my best effort.  Ganesha is not one of my personal cloud of witnesses, so it may be that I’m not channeling this quite right and getting a clear sense of what he’s about or how to approach him.  I do hope it’s useful to someone, though.

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