By George Zammit
E x c e r p t s
Have you ever been to Xlendi on a dawn in early May, When the skylark's ssong rebounded from the rocks across the Bay And the dghajsas glided, folded in the haze of coming day? Have you ever watched the sunset from Ta' Cenc's rocky height, Seen the pageant slowly fading through a veil of failing light, And the star of eve that, timid, waits upon approaching night? ........ Have you seen the high-walled Cities of the Harbour and the Hill; Have you watched those sacred ramparts and those battlements, until They relived with ghosts of heroes that your soul with silence fill? ........ By a window, in a street, Basil pours its fragrance sweet. Darkling under it, I stand Neck outstretched, guitar in hand. Visions rise, memories throng. Love still listens to my song: "With what a sting of painful joy I wonderingly behold The branches wave, and, as by charm, The pageantry unfold Of blossoming hazel, almond, peach In myriads untold!" ........ Malta, my Malta, Do your churches still keep Their motherly watch Over the roofs, the flat roofs, drenched With the rays of the sun, calm and still, Kissed by the bluest of skies? Do your villages still Cluster around the church square Like a boy's building blocks, disarranged? Do your alleys and streets, with their sleeping windmills With their stone Madonnas and Saints, With their tanernacles and niches, their souls in flames, Still wind in a maze And struggle, and dwindle away To the gorge of the Wied that winds its way Drawn by the song of the sea? Do your belfries and domes Still peep from aloft And daze with their rays The eyes that look up from the shade Of the narrow, balconied street? ............. How many dawns Have sown your bays with gems, my Island home, Since when the Punic lord bowed to the Roman; Since when the Crescent yielded to D'hauteville And Norman, Suabian, Angevin competed With Aragon and Castille to curb the will Of freedom-loving children of the soil! -------------------- ALKEMIJA Kienet il-qawwa Taz-zwiemel jittajru fil-berah tas-sema Li harbtet u serqet lil gidek -- Zwiemel leqqana, rubini, topazji kotrana -- Tajrithom ma' l-irjieh, u b'seher l-alkemija Bidlithom fit-tlellix Ta' deheb jintrifes taht riglejn sakran? Inzul ix-xemx inbidel f'demm: Welldu 'l uliedhom l-ommijiet, u baqghu Imnezzgha minn kull zina hlief, taht riglejhom Id-deheb mirfus mill-kotra: Deheb mibdul b'hidmiet l-alkemija Minn comb l-aghrajjex ta' Santa Marija
To be continued.
(Courtesy: Joseph Vella, nephew of Dr George Zammit)