Truck Stop Poems: Pangur Bán

Pangur Bán

In the ninth Century, a monk working in one of Charlemagne's scriptoriums copying some Virgil felt inspired to scribble a little poem about his cat, Pangur Ban who was presumably his only close living companion. There are quite a few translations of this poem but I have included the longest one I can find from this page - Of course, this poem reads in a very modern way, and if you look at one of the more realistic and accurate translations like the one at this page you can see just how much poetic license has been trowled into this version which I think was a W.H.Auden translation originally. Still, it's sweet.

 

I and Pangur Ban, 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 Ban, 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.

 


Other pages I like on this subject:


Michael Lawrie's 'Lorry' homepage. Email: lorry@lorry.org