presents
This section is a continuation of Steve Borg's article entitled
General Sir Walter Norris Congreve was only Governor of Malta for a few short years (1924-1927), yet he remains known as one of Malta's best loved rulers. In this tribute, we give you the full version of a poem -- published in the Daily Malta Chronicle at the time of his death -- so lovingly written by a British lady, who described what the Governor loved so much.
Whene'er the blue waves beat
Whene'er each Spring afresh,
Whene'er the dghaisa' oar,
Whene'er the silver moon
Whene'er the echoes are heard
And whene'er the honest man
Whene'er with winged sails,
And whene'er the traveller finds
(And the bridge, which spanned the seas,
And whene'er - on Mnajdra's heights -
And the sea gives back to the sun
Sir Walter and his wife, Lady Cecilia, would spend hours in the quietude of Qrendi's rocky cliffs, in the company of Malta's ancient Temple sites, our native flora and the beauty of the setting sun over the isle of Filfla. In this very place one nowadays still finds the Congreve Memorial; an epitaph marking his final resting place (at sea).
Visit also the page dedicated to Malta's British Governors
a tribute to
Sir Walter Congreve
Malta's British Governor.
'Of Guns & Roses'.
Maltese Native Flora,
appreciated by the Governor
and Lady Congreve
Congreve Memorial, with
Filfla island in the background
typical Maltese farm worker, a
farmer's wife ploughing the land
Hagar Qim,
one of two places of
ancient worship in the area
.
To The Late Governor,
Sir Walter Congreve
On The Day of His Funeral
March 4th, 1927
Round Malta's rugged shore,
Whene'er the winds do sing
The songs, they sang of yore,
The sweetest flowers are seen
And Malta's terraced heights
Lie swathed in a mantle green,
Softly rises and dips,
And breaks on the deep blue sea
The image of might ships,
The dreamy isle enthrals,
And the stars seem to float on the waves
By the foot of the bastion walls,
Of hundreds of years ago,
And the spirits of brave men still
On ramparts defy the foe,
Labours with zeal and skill,
On his hard-won red-brown soil,
Which the woman helps him till,
Like a Viking ship of old,
The boats come in from the sea
With their well-earned catch in the hold,
Some great and wonderous truth
In the temple-courts, which were built
When the world was still in its youth,
Has marks of the elephant's foot,
And a storm-tossed ship once brought
To the island eternal good.)
A human heart is blest,
By the beauty of Filfla's rock
As the sun goes down to its rest,
Its glory, in rise and fall;
Your name will then live again,
For the love, which you bore for it all.
These verses were composed by an English lady, and we publish them in the same spirit as they are dedicated by the author.
Sir W. Congreve's love for the sea was well-known to us all, and no poetical tribute to him could be more appropriate than one introducing the element to which our late Governor was so attached and which is his final resting place.
.
View from the Qrendi cliffs,
a favourite spot of the Congreves'
Cape Sorrel,
brought to Malta by
an English lady
the mystic 'Filfla' isle, a
familiar backdrop of the couple's outings
Protect Malta's
Environment
Join Naturetrust
