In addition to being the Maltese islands’ archbishop, Charles J. Scicluna is also a part-time poet of sorts and hopes to publish an autobiographical collection of works in the near future.

Scicluna was a guest on this week’s episode of L-Erbgħa Fost il-Ġimgħa, where he was asked how COVID-19 had impacted him personally. It was at this point that Scicluna said that one of the pandemic’s silver linings was that he had more time to dedicate to himself.

In fact, he said that he had rediscovered his poetry, and had dug up a number of his old poems, much to host Mark Lawrence’s surprise. “You write poetry?” he asked.

“What happened was that I’ve moved house a number of times over the course of my life, and when I moved house back in 1976 and then again in 1999, I came across lots of papers which, as you know,  accumulate over the years,” he explained.

“I started to find things I had written and collected them all. Then when COVID came along I decided to revisit them.”

Scicluna said that he had written his first poem when he was 15 years old and had continued to do so for a number of years.

“And what would you write about? Girls who had broken your heart?” Lawrence asked.

“Obviously, reading them now allows me to see my development, even as an adolescent. When I publish them you’ll get a chance to see for yourself,” Scicluna replied.

He said that love poems would obviously need to be included in the collection, given that it would be an autobiographical one.

“I can’t hide it. In fact, you’re reminding me of a sonnet: ‘to the yet unknown fair lady of my love’, that’s how it starts,” Scicluna said with a smile. “But anyway, these are the dreams of youth.”

Would you like to read any of the archbishop’s poems? Comment below