Pangur Ban (Poema anónimo del Siglo IX)

TRANSLATED BY SEAMUS HEANEY

From the ninth-century Irish poem

Pangur Bán and I at work,

Adepts, equals, cat and clerk:

       His whole instinct is to hunt,

       Mine to free the meaning pent.

More than loud acclaim, I love

Books, silence, thought, my alcove.

       Happy for me, Pangur Bán

       Child-plays round some mouse’s den.

Truth to tell, just being here,

Housed alone, housed together,

       Adds up to its own reward:

       Concentration, stealthy art.

Next thing an unwary mouse

Bares his flank: Pangur pounces.

       Next thing lines that held and held

       Meaning back begin to yield.

All the while, his round bright eye

Fixes on the wall, while I

       Focus my less piercing gaze

       On the challenge of the page.

With his unsheathed, perfect nails

Pangur springs, exults and kills.

       When the longed-for, difficult

       Answers come, I too exult.

So it goes. To each his own.

No vying. No vexation.

       Taking pleasure, taking pains,

       Kindred spirits, veterans.

Day and night, soft purr, soft pad,

Pangur Bán has learned his trade.

       Day and night, my own hard work

       Solves the cruxes, makes a mark.

Source: Poetry (April 2006).

Messe ocus Pangur Bán, cechtar nathar fri saindán:

bíth a menma-sam fri seilgg,mu menma céin im saincheirdd

Caraim-se fos, ferr cach clú, oc mu lebrán, léir ingnu;

ní foirmtech frimm Pangur Bán: caraid cesin a maccdán.

Ó ru biam, scél cen scís, innar tegdais, ar n-óendís,

táithiunn, díchríchide clius, ní fris tarddam ar n-áthius.

Gnáth, h-úaraib, ar gressaib gal glenaid luch inna línsam;

os mé, du-fuit im lín chéin dliged n-doraid cu n-dronchéill.

Fúaichaid-sem fri frega fál a rosc, a n-glése comlán;

fúachimm chéin fri fégi fis mu rosc réil, cesu imdis.

Fáelid-sem cu n-déne dul hi n-glen luch inna gérchrub;

hi tucu cheist n-doraid n-dil os mé chene am fáelid.

Cia beimmi a-min nach ré ní derban cách a chéle:

maith la cechtar nár a dán; subaigthius a óenurán.

h-É fesin as choimsid dáu in muid du-ngní cach óenláu;

du thabairt doraid du glé for mo mud céin am messe.

Pangur Bán es un poema irlandés antiguo, escrito alrededor del SIX en la abadía de Reichenau. Fué escrito por un monje irlandés y trata sobre la comparación de las actividades su gato Pangur Bán o batán blanco con sus propio hacer académico.
El poema se encuentra en el Primer de Reichenau. hay muchas traducciones del poema, ésta que pueden leer aquí, y también se destacan la de Robin Flower y  Wystan Hugh Auden.