Day Twenty #Na/GloPoWriMo

Day 20 Prompt: 

For today, try writing your own poem that uses an animal that shows up in myths and legends as a metaphor for some aspect of a contemporary person’s life. Include one spoken phrase.

Notes: In Hindu tradition, Lord Ganesha, the remover of obstacles, the symbol of wisdom, is always shown with his loyal servant and vehicle, Mooshak, the mouse. Ganesha’s mouse represents the restless, desiring mind—small but capable of great destruction if not guided by wisdom. And the laddoos he offers symbolise the surrendering ego.
 

Ganesha’s mouse

 

Before the curse, he was a musician,

lauded for his verve and skill

but like all things that balloon

his ego did not burst

the mighty musician was cursed

to live a life of the lowly mouse

but in giant scale

and ego is ego, it doesn’t give up

even in his cursed-mouse-version,

Mooshak continued to wreck havoc

upon Mother Earth

till the wise Ganpati beat him at his game

and from that day on, legends say

he sits in service

of his elephant-headed Lord

holding a plenteous supply of tasty laddoos, 

one of my favourite sweets, also dear to 

my favourite god—my roly-poly Ganpati

my monkey brain, every time we visit the temple,

even at this ripe enough age, I

notice first the laddoo, crave the laddoo, salivate

how must they taste--

nutty, drenched in ghee or simply crumbly

with eyes shut, hands in prayer, I bow my head and whisper,

Please Lord Ganesh, you know how it is

with sugar and calories, just this once

do your magic and vanish

all ill-effects from my share

it’s paltry compared to your unending universe

spare me my half a kilo

and look the other way

Please?