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Pangur Bán

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In Memory of My Friend, Sylvester

“Pangur Bán” is a poem written about the 9th century by an Irish monk working at Reichenau Abbey on Lake Constance in southern Germany. The monk’s poem is about his cat, Pangur Bán, whose name means “white fuller” (something like “clean white” or “the white cleaner”) in Old Irish. The author compares his cat’s purpose in life with his own scholarly purpose.

Pangur Bán

I and Pangur Bán, my cat

‘Tis a like task we are at;

Hunting mice is his delight

Hunting words I sit all night.

Better far than praise of men

‘Tis to sit with book and pen;

Pangur bears me no ill will,

He too plies his simple skill.

‘Tis a merry thing to see

At our tasks how glad are we,

When at home we sit and find

Entertainment to our mind.

Oftentimes a mouse will stray

In the hero Pangur’s way:

Oftentimes my keen thought set

Takes a meaning in its net.

‘Gainst the wall he sets his eye

Full and fierce and sharp and sly;

‘Gainst the wall of knowledge I

All my little wisdom try.

When a mouse darts from its den,

O how glad is Pangur then!

O what gladness do I prove

When I solve the doubts I love!

So in peace our tasks we ply,

Pangur Bán, my cat, and I;

In our arts we find our bliss,

I have mine and he has his.

Practice every day has made

Pangur perfect in his trade;

I get wisdom day and night

Turning darkness into light.

— Translated by Robin Flower