I was listening to the Blindboy Podcast (episode 273 Analysing a 9th century Irish poem about a white cat).
In this podcast Blindboy spoke about the Reichnenau Primer, a book written by Irish monks in Germany in 9th century. In the margins there are poems written by the monks in old Irish. Whilst the monk was alone transcribing his books he wrote a poem for his cat. Pangur Ban is a poem written in 840 for his white (Ban) cat ( Pangur – the name of his cat, like Felix). This was translated by Robin Flower (also later Seamus Heaney), see below:
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 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.
I’m interested in this poem as research because the monk is comparing what the cat does to what he does. Pangur wants to catch mice all day, that’s his feline job. The monk is reflecting that his human job is to translate, write scripts, ‘catch’; inspiration to write poems.
He compares his vocation to his cats vocation, he notices they both have a calling, a purpose. I find this observation compassionate and humbling. I notice I do the same with Islay my dog, I observe her behaviours, this helps me to better understand my behaviour. Islay will respond to how I am feeling. If I am feeling nervous she’ll start to communicate nervous body language, this helps me to understand that she is picking up on the way that I’m conducting myself so I am able to become better aware of my emotions.
This poem is telling you to look at the cat who just wants to catch mice all day, he’s only focused on that task at hand is not bothered by the world around them and to see a parallel in that with creating.
The monk wants to be like his cat, his cat is single-minded and focused on catching mice, the monk wants singular focus so he can get on and make his work free from the worry what other people might be thinking. Be like the cat, the cats singular purpose is to catch mice and the monks singular purpose is to research and write.
Find meaning and purpose in what you do. It is incredible this was written over 1200 years ago and I find myself having the same thoughts with Islay today.