Retire has come to me since thirty years
in University, teaching various subjects
ranging from Maths & Physics to Aesthetics,
from Facilities at a urban scale and those for buildings,
Composition and Morphoenergetics…
I must confess I have enjoyed a lot doing such things,
I must confess I have loved my pupils,
I now must say goodby to generations
not coming more to class, I´ll surely miss it;
in any case please forgive me my shortcomings.
I always keep in my heart the expectation
of meeting you again somewhere unattended
and ask about your life and your endeavors
and in which way you have applied the knowledge,
and more important if you have found your true being…
in the meantime I offer you a poem.
FROM A TEACHER TO STUDENTS: A TRIBUTE
Friends, some of you here are my pupils
and there are others that have been,
or will be in the future, with "bad luck";
allow me a few comments that I feel:
Albert Einstein had said that is "the school
the invention of old age to take revenge"...
from the accusation of continuous youth
which shows as in a mirror the contrast
of life that is in bloom and ever young
and the relentless slaughter of the time.
As he who is the professor always finds
all courses, perpetual and renewed,
in front of him, standing by, the estate
always the same and vigorous of life
in twenty years of age the clock stopped,
with time unchanging mocking at his face
as in a bloodily reversed devil´s pact.
And is the painful contrast evident
of all the years passed in a breath,
that open sores of former joys forgotten,
the longing for what could have been,
the ride near the end and all its sins,
the final course which leads towards the death.
And in revenge of the hour-glass, professors
looking to spend their aging each year in front
of youth batches evergreen as an insult,
as a mocking laughter of the gods,
in retaliation I suppose, perhaps unconsciously,
they erect themselves as if a Cronus god
to devour flesh of generations new.
Overwhelming demands then are there raised
of work without limits or an end
which represent, I know, the many hours
stolen from the rest, and from sports,
going out with friends or else with the sweet love,
to travel round the world or just to lie
on the park in spring facing the sky
to see clouds drift by across the blue
quietly and ponder questions: what is life?,
what´s the destiny of all, and its arcana ...;
and try to find our own answers that no book
neither teachers or syllabus, can give;
that only each one alone and by himself
in direct insight might see if in silence
the mind is quieted, from common toils afar…
without "sword of Damocles" of handovers,
without the guilty conscience of the expenses
without the urgency for the next exercise,
of attendances, examinations, marks.
Society does not treat those youths as adults,
people who are already so by age,
as caged birds would be the fitting image,
or tamed creatures to jump the fences brought
of the Career, a steeplechase resembling so to say.
Yes, I know, there are other rewards
—of architecture I speak because I know—
the cause is neat and gives us information
in a wide variety of fields
and plus discovers the deep creative vein
that makes us equal to God "Great Architect".
And yet we see that in the scales unbalanced,
the other plate is there much overloaded
with the youth lost and with the extensive hours
and then more hours of never ending work.
And apart, of course of some outstanding master
luckily found at last —as one finds a rare bird—
and half a dozen teachers that are good
with something to offer that interesting sounds,
misunderstanding of much professor fool,
endure so much the egos and their whims,
treatment unfair of some frustrated despots,
or leaden weight of lecturers much gray.
It is also added the uncertainty in the present
of future work and money to be gained
that allows us to be at last independent,
being no more a burden to the family,
able to travel and go around the world,
to buy a sport car, and even a small house,
and found a home and have some children then,
(or perhaps that sounds already outmoded?).
A true vocation more than that of Saints
to stand in the gap is here necessary,
to overcome discouragement and "lows"
and not to throw the towel on the floor
given the example that we see on the street
of so many ignorant dumb scoundrels
that without knowledge and also without qualms
flourishes in business or thrives in politics.
So friends I understand you, I've had
more or less the same as any one around;
if anything serves, tell me of course with you,
because beyond the teacher and the student,
exams and marks, beyond assigned roles,
the human aspect must at the end prevail
I've passed that too, so I speak.
Above all: a generation can´t be lost
denying best fresh blood to the old crop rows
who have already given, and now dry,
deprived of sowing without the future seeds,
are just to be stubble and henceforth
outworn responses only from the past.
What a sin!; a treadmill around the neck,
then thrown into the sea, responsible deserve
for ruining roads for treading of the youth
by shortsightedness and selfishness so dumb,
the treasure of the future making waste!.
I regard it utterly intolerable, therefor
tell me among the outraged in their ranks!.
Image from: "PHOTOFILTERED"
You can see the original in Spanish HERE
