If I could turn back the hands of Time

Time, they say, waits for no man

We may think that others have more time than we do to do things they really love and spend a quality time too with their friends and family

But why not me?? Why can't time wait for me too so I can finish my hard day's work just to have quality time with my family and friends too?
I spend most of my hours occupying myself with hard work, dedication to making money and an enviable desire of earning good money all the time
Yet I'm not satisfied... It does not fill me with the happiness the world assures me I will get
If only I could turn back the hands of time, just to know and understand what I am doing wrong so I can learn again to do it right

I missed my son's countless birthdays, art lessons and football practice sessions
He was near me all the time but the closest I came to seeing him everyday was always late at night
Now he is a full grown man, matured and wise yet he does not want to be near me....
I don't know you, so he will say to me all the time
But I fed him, clothed him and saw him through an expensive Ivy League School
Where is my father of the year reward??
Where did all my hardwork and late night work shifts go?
If I could only turn back the hands of time, just to learn how to do it right all over again

He was the man of my dreams....I had my Mr. Right all smiles on that beautiful wedding day
Everybody cheered for us and laughed with us
But it's been five years already without a child to call my own
My husband who loved me so much then, now sees me as the devil. We can stay close to each other, sharing the same bed and yet in silence
If only I could turn the hands of time... to understand the things I didn't understand before marriage

When I was young, my father would dance with my mother and me on the corridor of our house
He was all the joy in the world my mother and I knew until he passed away in service to his country
Now I'm an orphan and my dear mother, a widow. My poor mother is branded a witch by her in laws for taking their daily bread painfully away from this world
My dreams of becoming an engineer, my good grades, all those dreams now gone up in smoke
If I could only turn back the hands of time

My life didn't tell me how much time I have left to undo all the wasted years of my life
Now I'm eighty years old, how time flies
If all the bartenders and the pubs could  reimburse me my money for all the booze...
If all the women I tossed, changed and seeded carelessly without a thought could be here to comfort me now in my loneliness
I do not have a roof over my head, my children can't stand me and all my  numerous women  have left me
Hmmm....if only I could turn back the hands of time...I would have loved to make things right.

*Kwame Sarpong*