Yesterday, we visited the Book of Kells at Trinity College in Dublin, and I have been thinking more about those monks who ensured that the Christian tradition was passed down from one generation to another. I remembered a poem that I once read by an anonymous Irish monk from the 9th Century about his pet cat named Pangur Ban.
The following text was translated from Old Irish by Robin Flower:
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 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 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.
There is beauty in a job well-done even if it is a cat chasing a mouse or a theologian chasing an argument. As the Preacher notes,
“So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?” Ecclesiastes 3:22
If you can appreciate this poem and the joy of vocation, you might like a children’s book about Pangur Ban entitled, The White Cat and the Monk by writer Jo Ellen Bogart and illustrator Sydney Smith.
Pastor 139 