PHP question

Can someone help me get this line of php code working:

function get_recent_posts($no_posts = 5, $before = '<li>', $after = '</li><small>Posted on <?php the_time('F jS, Y') ?> at <?php the_time('g:i a') ?>&nbsp; | Comments: <?php comments_popup_link(__('(0)'), __('(1)'), __('(%)')); ?></small>', $show_pass_post = false, $skip_posts = 0) {


Just that part where it says &after = ‘ ‘ Everytime I add that php_the_time part it gives me the following error;

Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_STRING, expecting ')' in /home/bball2/public_html/site/my-hacks.php on line 2