VICTORIA SCHOOL Nil sine labore. We felt but did not grasp That truth, until the years. The changing age confirmed severely: Nothing without labour, Nothing is for free.You grew us well, Mother of our youth, Gave grave to toughness, Tuned mind and feeling. Our teachers scolded out of love. We loved them with the fevour That only mischief has.We learnt quarrelled laughed, Little enemies, great friends In classroom lab assembly Below the arches of the Hall. Upon the tower built by Amin Bock Hai and their scouting gang.We shared ourselves, so Found ourselves: Henry Aziz Boey Soon Khiang Beng Keng Peter Poh Guan Noordin Eric Heng Goe Dhanabalan Teo Yong Chua Seng, Among the intricacies of calculus, Adverbial phrase, The Rover, There was the steadying of the eye As a though struck deep with beauty, Or growing symmetry, sudden revelation We did not feel the day go byThe faces appear each year Along the corridors to labour, love, Learn, They too will know That here our better youth was spent, That what we are was seeded then.We do not return to you, mother, Because we never really left.Professor Edwin Thumboo VS 1948 - 1953Poem composed in 1980 for the Old Victorians' Association.