When a relatively small nation like ours suffers the loss of one of its great minds − such as our precious Prof. Charles Briffa – those of us who traverse the corridors of wisdom, sense the certainty of one’s demise.

With his passing on to the unknown, our dear brother Charles has bequeathed this beloved land a treasure trove of his dedicated lifetime labour of love. For we, his inheritors, are the beneficiaries of his enlightened works. We as the Maltese nation are so much the richer through his intellectual contributions.

To his beloved wife Angela, although I never met her, I extend my deepest sympathy as expressed in this brief eulogy. And the same no less goes to their progeny in their hour of grief.

May we all savour the richness of his brilliant mind

May all the many admirers Charles left behind upon this planet of woe eagerly reappraise his many sagacious works in their measured audacity, for the linguist he was, and thereby appreciate him all the more now that his river of wisdom has sealed its productive energetic flow. May we all savour the richness of his brilliant mind.

So long Charles Briffa. May your new journey ensue in greater profusion, if at all possible, as your brief sojourn among us mortals begins its everlasting hour of bliss.              

Roderick (Rigu) Bovingdon