Intermezzo: My Class 1957

Posted by Illuci (Hurdegaryp, Netherlands) on 21 December 2007 in People & Portrait and Portfolio.

What a surprise, I got a letter from my old school mate who sent me two old class pictures which I had lost during many moves from one house to another. The guy on the last row, upper left, that's me. My friend who wrote me the letter is directly right of the tallest guy, also on the last row, holding the pulse of the guy before him. Can you imagine that our teachers needed the biggest effort to keep a little order in the class? The school was High School (Lyceum), 1st grade, in the famous city of Leyden (Rembrandt, University) and was run by the Fathers of St. Franciscus (OFM). My friend wrote that I could bring the class in astonishment by writing two different sentences on the blackboard simultaneously, one with my right hand and one with my left hand; these were the things that I practised instead of making my homework, I got many "insufficients" but eventually I got my diploma :). My friend became also a teacher (physics and chemistry), and at least two classmates became famous musicians (cello and trumpet), at least on national level, one of them is Harro Ruizenaars.

O alte Burschen Herrlichkeit
Wohin bist du verschwunden?
Nie kehrst du wieder goldne Zeit,
So froh, so ungebunden!
Vergebens sehe ich umher,
Ich sehe deine Spur nicht mehr!
O jerum, jerum, jerum,
O quae mutatio rerum! (bis)

O old boys enjoyment,
To where did you disappear?
Never you'll return, o golden time,
So merry, and so free,
In vain I look around
I don't see your trace anymore,
O jerum, jerum, jerum,
O what a change of things!

(Of course the translation is only a dull text in comparison with the original German text - German has a totally different character from English, only the last line is Latin and also the Latin sounds better than the English equivalent)

My friend told me several things we experienced and forgotten names and situations came to life again. What an experience!

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