if time could be turned back...
(since the O levels are imminent, please do not expect any more regular posts in from me cause I am also gunning my all to enter VJ and thus I will need plenty of revision. I apologize if I disappointed or annoyed you in anyway. The following composition is from the Chinese homework that LSM gave us. The title is stated above. So yes, I am in a way translating the Chinese composition into English. I am worried if it's out of point though because this experience did NOT happen on me. It never will anyway, at least the front portion that is; the last will might be more viable)

To change is but only human. People often say that time and tide waits for no Man. And thus, I suppose that it is this ideology which drives people to constantly change.
Whenever I had the chance, I would just stand in front of the window and look down at the streets below. People, like ants scurrying to and fro from place to place. I would then let my vision wander further upwards to where that place used to be. Now, what replaces it are just rows and columns of housing estates. Some have banners draped on them, others have wild colors painted as though by a chimp. They all are attempting, fruitlessly, at injecting some life into themselves. How pathetic. What used to be here was just plain, lush greenery. It was truly living. There used to be a gentle breeze that would blow ever so often into my windows. But even that is gone as well.
What used to be here was just plain grass really. Not mountainous piles of cement, stone and rock. To be more exact, it was a plain open field with a tree situated in the center. Ever so often, the field would have a group of boys frolicking. Most of the time they would be playing soccer or perhaps just flying a kite. Such a a scene is worth millions more that what is offered on television. Such a scene was brimming with life itself, something the tele could never copy. The tree that was smack in the middle was tall enough to see but short enough to evade lightning bolts. It was therefore given the moniker "The Lucky Tree". It was rumored that someone had seen the lottery numbers appearing on that tree before as well. But what mattered was that tree was where we first met.
I cannot rememer why I had walked up the field and to that tree; not that it matters anymore. But I do remember vividly you busy snapping pictures of the tree bark and its leaves. I guess it must be for your science project. You were so enraptured with what you were doing that you did not notice the fallen tree branch in front of you. That moment of being totally engrossed with your photography, you tripped and fell. The camera was catapulted into the air, before free falling and smashing into the field with gusto. I walked up towards the camera to find it shattered into at least four different parts. The film laid strewn on the grass. You got up, wobbly and slightly shaken. But that look on your face was more of concern of the state of the camera than that nasty bruise you got on your knee. Tears began to roll down your cheeks.
"Thank you very much", you said to me, returning me the camera. I was elated for two reasons. The first was of course that I managed to help you and secondly, that I received my brother's camera back in one piece. Thankfully. I asked you out for lunch but you turned me down. And then you mentioned that you wanted to have a picnic under that tree instead. I was happy beyond words. Following that little excursion, we spent many more days under that tree. It was bliss.
You said you adore ballet. But strangely though, the way you pranced around the tree trunk resembled more of Bollywood dancing than that of a ballerina. I didn't tell you that but it does not matter anymore now does it? But at that time, I too was like a fool, following suit and playing along with you. What a sight it must had been for the residents!
I once read in a book "Happiness matters for the moment and not for eternity". Three years later, you asked me to meet you under the tree. You said you wanted to go to Paris to further hone your skills and to learn more about the art. You said that it is plausible that you might be gone for a good five to six years. I was dumbfounded and all I could do was to look at some engravings done on the bark of the tree. I then felt something round and tough in my hand. You placed a seed. You said that it is the seed of this very tree. The lucky tree. You said that the day that the first leaf grows would be when you would return from Paris....
The field is now gone. And so along has the lucky tree which was chopped down three years after you left for Paris. The seed has not only sprouted leaves but tiny red flowers as well. Of course, it is now too big to be grown in a pot and I have transplanted it to a field somewhere in the district. From what I had heard, it too had been named "The Lucky Tree". But I know that you are not coming back.
If time could be turned back, how I would love to live through those moments with you again. But really, that is not possible. Is it?

-it sounds corny at certain parts because of translation. Damn it's tough.