A forgotten poem rediscovered

I’ve found that having an achy knee means a lot of time in my recliner - and therefore, time to work on a neglected project.

Over the course of nearly 20 years and almost 3500 posts, this blog often contained comments and observations related to my travels. Observations about countries, activities, and “travel tips” were fairly frequent - as they are now in my post-retirement ramblings. So I am collecting them into a single document - Travels with the Blue Skunk.

One of the delights of doing such a project is running across materials I’d shared before such as this poem I discovered while in Ireland. Enjoy…

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.

'Tis a merry thing to see
At our tasks how glad are we,
When at home we sit and find
Entertainment to our mind.

'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.

So in peace our task we ply,
Pangur Ban my cat and I;
In our arts we find out bliss,
I have mine and he has his.

written by a 9th century Irish scholar-monk