April is National Poetry Month! "Pangur Ban"

I'm in a wee bit of a hurry to get off to class, but since apparently we love the amusing animal poems--a combination of two wonderful things--here is a nice classic animal poem, which is less funny than "Verse for a Certain Dog," but almost as sweet. It's anonymous, but the internet tells me it's from Ireland in the 8th century. Thank you, internet.

I first read this in a teeny little novelty book about cats, which paired cat art with cat poems. You know the kind. It was a gift from my parents when I was a little kid, and more susceptible to novelty items; alas, they no longer wow me, no matter how novel. But I still think fondly on this poem. My cat has to go outside to kill mice, thank goodness, and when I'm toiling away at my desk, reading and writing, it's generally with a computer, but...the scholar, the cat, the work late into the night, in quiet solitude and in total satisfaction--yes, I know that.


Pangur Ban

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 task 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 task 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.