Parvati created Ganesh during Shiva's long absence when she grew lonely. He grew into an obedient, caring child. When Shiva returned one day he did not know or recognise Ganesh and cut off his head. When he realised his terrible mistake he was stricken with remorse and decreed that the head of the first living creature he found would be fused to the body of his son. The first creature that they came across was a baby elephant.

‘Beautiful son, your feet are still warm.

Your fleshy thumb is moist from your

little mouth. Child, who I grew not in my

belly but on my belly; each finger was rolled

and pressed in my lap, your limbs oiled

from the sweat of my lip, and the shine on

my collarbone became the mortar to bind you.

The day I announced you the sky offered

me all the birds to devour. You may stop

rehearsing stillness. You and I are the only

gleaming objects in this indecipherable

blackness, beside the plum tree. Do not

be afraid to know yourself, hold melody

in your pores, let me kiss you where your mouth

will be and leave a gold clot on your lip.

Sisters! I will refuse to see ashes today.

Why remove my gold? Who marked my wrists

with violet bangles? You must tell the ghosts.

They are leaving their stinking cages and I'm on

my knees praying they'll not come any closer.

Ghosts with measuring cups who are streaming

through the flowers, can't you see that

this season's plum tree has borne so many

and that beside it lies my son, my headless son

who glints and sings, whose blood still sings?’