Too Late

I didn't mean to go back to the house,
I wouldn't have gone if I'd known.
I opened the gate as quiet as a mouse,
Saw the garden was all overgrown.

I stood at the door and knew they were wrong -
The people I'd turned to in grief.
They said I'd be right, they said I was strong,
I just had to turn a new leaf.

I walked up the hall still looking for you,
Of course you were gone long ago,
But I thought, as I looked, of things that you'd do,
I remembered the places we'd go.

I sat in the kitchen where we used to eat,
And considered my mess of a life,
I still had the house, I should stand on my feet,
And forget that I'd murdered my wife.

I'd paid for my crime and was free as a bird,
I could do as I liked from here on,
But I knew that I'd dwell on what had occurred,
That my chance for a good life was gone.

"Regret has no place in your new life", they said,
As we walked through the big prison gate,
They said I should look to my life up ahead,
But my heart says, "Too late; it's too late."