[Pangur Ban]

This poem caught my imagination from the very first time I saw it. It was written by a 9th century Irish monk in Saint Gallen, Switzerland.

I have a copy hung on my office wall as a personal "inspiration". I wonder if anything I do will remembered 1000 years later ??

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 thoughts 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 wisdoms try.

When a mouse darts from its den,
O how glad is Pangur then!
O what gladness do I prove
When I solve the tasks 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 at his trade;
I get wisdom day and night
Turning darkness into light.

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Pang [img]graemlins/cat3.gif[/img]

[ 06-22-2002, 08:59 AM: Message edited by: Pangur Ban ]