Our Lives by Wallace Waldo Williams

Ahhh! How fast time flies! Because of my preoccupation to give my family a good life, I simply did not notice the time go by so quickly. It’s so shocking to suddenly wake up to the reality that what used to be my four adorable babies are now four grown up “ghoulies’ (what I fondly called my kids) who’d leave me anytime to seek their own destinies in this world. This poem by Wallace Waldo Williams captures the swirling thoughts rising within the depths of my inner self as I try to grapple with the thought that I have now grown old and have wasted so much precious time which otherwise I should have spent enjoying the days of their growing up years.

Our Lives

When they are a baby, can’t wait for them to grow up
From diapers and a bottle, to drinking from a cup
First they say some words, and then they start to talk
Take the first few steps, and then they start to walk
They were just a baby, it seems just like last year
Where has time gone to, rolling down a tear

Pictures tell their story, each one a different age
You can’t get time back, their memories on every page
Every time you turn around, they’re into something new
And suddenly you realize, how fast they really grew
There was kindergarten, helped overcome their fear
Where has time gone to, rolling down a tear

Still get into trouble, they may get out on a limb
Every time you see them, you see yourself in them
Can’t help but love them, to you they are the best
Made you proud, when they got an A on any given test
You wanted to slow down, they shift it up a gear
Where has time gone to, rolling down a tear

The time in the school play, when they were the star
Taught them to ride a bike, now they drive a car
Each day they grow older, now you become older too
You want your babies back, but there’s nothing you can do
Used to want to play, now they’re planning a career
Where has time gone to, it’s rolling down a tear

Wallace Waldo Williams