Poetry by Markus Hamence – Seminyak Bali, April 2025

Before the bells,
before the incense curls
its way to the ceiling of the sky,
he is there.

In the hush between breaths,
in the space where the heart pauses
between one beat and the next,
he waits – not loud,
not grand,
but eternal.

The remover of obstacles,
not by storm,
but by stillness.

He does not crush mountains –
he teaches you to walk around them,
or through them,
or to see they were never there at all.

His trunk sways in rhythm
with the breath of the cosmos.
His eyes, ancient as stardust,
see the truth beneath your fear,
the light beneath your doubt.

Offer him not just sweets,
but silence.
Not just flowers,
but focus.

He asks only this:
that you begin –
and begin with grace.

O Ganapati,
son of Shiva,
child of the cosmic dance,
guide our feet through tangled paths,
make smooth the soil beneath our steps,
and let us walk toward our becoming.