The sun was up and the time was right on my side. I was once a youth full of energy. I ran at a speed of light and jumped like a gazelle. I remember.

My weekends were full of unscheduled activities and drama. Even the clock could not detect time, I was jovial and intense in my strides. I walked majestically with confidence of a Prince. Weekend evenings became day light and sleeping caused nightmares. My friends called me, “The night rider” and I embraced the name with glory and pride. I remember.

I wore the most expensive shoes and clothes. All international brands rubbed shoulders in my wardrobe. My savings account was my wardrobe and my wardrobe was my bank. Spending a night with one woman was a taboo and illegal in my constitution. No day was the same for a hunter of my kind, my game presented no order or class, age or colour, some pretty and some not very pretty, either way it made no difference to me, since I was intoxicated and dazed all the time. I remember.

Old age and settling down seemed like a far distanced horizon. I was the smartest fool and the cleverest in my own class. The mirror was my reality and self assuring religious symbol. I reported to noone, cared for noone and trusted by noone. I was an island and arrogantly acknowledged my environment as unique and carefree. I was the rolling stone. I remember.

I was untouchable and loathed guidance from my elders. I could fly if I wanted, the world was mine and I was the king. I smoked cigars with single malt whiskey. I puffed the cigar smoke into the air like the Dons from Italian Mafia movies. Whiskey in my veins, I was invisible. I remember.

The passing of each Christmas and New Year went like a flash. The wise Greeks defined it as calender years. As I glanced through my cracked mirror, it became apparent that majority of my hair colour was turning into grayish white. My skin was no longer smooth and my teeth had gradually started to resemble the colour of tea with milk. The sound of heavy traffic had turned into thick bush. Discord noise created by insects and birds became the only disco sounds. I remember.

It was fuzzy and blurry in my memory bank how I got here. My bones started aching. The young and wild had became the old and the frail. Ageing had taken its own toll. The inevitable was progressively decaying in the order of nature. Unrealistic and self consoling mind presented me with a skew abstract mirage of the realistic state of my current affairs. I remember.

The City life had vanished and recycled the old bones to a village. This was a natural progression of a man who lacked wisdom. It was a rude awakening and harsh reality. Lonely nights and cold winters left the old malnourished body degraded with all kind of sicknesses. The once unfathomable immune system had crashed like titanic. It had succumbed to a reality called old age. I remember.

As I lay in my shallow grave and wishing that only if God can reverse the seconds, minutes, hours, days, months and the years what will I do different? Unfortunately the beast called death knows no reverse or regret. It’s grip is so tight and firm. I remember.

My bones will probably be ridiculed at a science laboratory or be used by a sangoma, the future of my remains is at high risk. Now I understand why my parents rebuked uncouth behaviour and embraced the holy book. All is gone and followed the natural order of dust to dust. I remembered.

No one can hear my cry now and noone has a single memory of my cigars and single malt. My wardrobe has turned into a pill of redundant senseless rugs. On my tomb stone, it is written, “ RIP old man, may you find peace in the next life”. As I watch the proceedings of my funeral attended by two men unknown to me, I remembered how lonely an island was. I remembered that family is everything. I remembered that listening is critical. I remembered that respect preserves human dignity. I remembered that the clock had final taken over.