A modest limestone chapel stands at Qalb ta’ Ġesù cemetery on Infetti Street, Żebbuġ. Malta’s national poet, who was born in 1871, was laid to rest in Tomb 71 of the Dun Karm Psaila chapel of repose in 1961.

Nowadays, a pungent smell of fresh paint pervades the chapel, which is being restored 50 years after the poet passed away.

Michael Bonnici, former Deputy Speaker, MP and Żebbuġ Civil Council general secretary, is restoring the neglected building. A self-proclaimed Dun Karm admirer, he has retained the chapel’s original characteristics and added a touch of patriotism with a Maltese flag and a battery-operated candle.

“I’m very keen on the poet,” he said, his mind tracking back to the funeral on October 15, 1961. A young Mr Bonnici had joined villagers bidding farewell to their fellow Żebbuġi and literary father. A sense of reverence hung in the air, as the coffin was slid under the tombstone bearing his family emblem.

A pharmaceutical technician by profession, Mr Bonnici has been working on the chapel’s restoration as a volunteer since mid-January. He juggles his free time between his grandchildren and the chapel.

The place first had to be cleared of bird droppings, nests and flowers, which had been laid on the tombstone and stained the marble slab.

Mould growth was scraped off the inside walls, cement was removed from stone slabs and membrane was applied to the roof. Nearly all of the window panes were replaced.

The chapel’s back wall is peppered with graffiti, and Mr Bonnici is waiting for an expert’s opinion on how it could be restored.

Mr Bonnici seeks comfort in the poet’s work whenever he is feeling blue. Dun Karm expressed his solitude poetically. Laced with a background of village life and the Maltese countryside, his work takes the reader on a spiritual trip.

The national poet built the chapel on a four-tombstone area as a tribute to poetry, reflecting upon one of his most memorable verses from Non Omnis Moriar: “The poet will die and the song remains” (“Il-poeta jintemm u l-għanja tibqa”).