If time ever stopped,
I'd erase all of my past.
If time ever stopped,
I'd pick up my smile from where I lost it.
If time ever stopped,
I'd let myself cry for hours till I'm all done.
If time ever stopped,
I'd rewrite all my wrongs.
If time ever stopped,
I'd do good for those who were good to me.
If time ever stopped,
I'd take back all my forsaken promises.
If time ever stopped,
I'd take back my words filled with
expectation.
If time ever stopped,
I'd rewrite my past;
For I don't want my present to suffer
for the sake of the time I've lost till now.

I.
Dreams carved in stone,
shattered like glass,
echoes of effort—
lost in the past.

II.
Steps I climbed,
only to fall,
hands outstretched,
no one at all.

III.
Pages of plans,
drenched in doubt,
words unwritten,
time ran out.

IV.
Bridges I built,
burnt by fate,
stood at the edge,
a moment too late.

V.
Eyes that searched
for a flicker of light,
but shadows danced
through endless night.

VI.
Yet within the ruins,
a whisper remains—
failure is written,
but so is change.

The classroom became our living room.
We learned together—alphabet to perseverance.
Public schools taught rules;
I taught love that bends to fit a child.