If Only Poem by Nicholas J. Roberts

If only, if only things hadn't been so,
If only, somehow, I could change the past,
If only I'd known then the things I now know,
If only the time hadn't gone by so fast,

I could've conquered the world anew,
I could have been greater than all the greats:
If I'd been the kind who dares to do,
Instead of the kind who hesitates.

But, Oh! What a hateful God who makes
A man or woman look back and see
A lifetime of foolish and painful mistakes,
With not one single victory.

Despite the talent He gave me at birth,
His joy was to watch me waste it away,
Never to realise how much it was worth
Until this final reckoning day,

When it finally dawns on my withering mind
Just how stupid I've been. How it makes me cry!
How it tortures my soul - I must have been blind -
If only I'd had the guts to try.