I've learned that everything
is not always what it seems to be
and people aren't always
what they present themselves to be
or will do what they say
they are going to do.

Iv'e learned that sometimes
reality isn't very pretty
but sometimes it can be
so beautiful it will make your
head spin again and again
but it is what you make it to be
but then again sometimes
we are just too
blind to see.

I've learned that getting old
isn't really too much fun
but it is something
from which no one can run
or get away from because
it will always come.

I've learned that our youth
escapes us so fast
and that we can't keep trying
to reclaim the past
and must come to terms
with the fact that youth
just doesn't last.

I've learned that people
will lie to you
for their own personal gain
and upon finding out
about those lies
you will never look at trust
the same.

I've learned that life goes on
even if it is just a big con
because in the end
we are all going to die
no matter what kind of fish
you had to fry or how many times
you had to cry.

I've learned that the truth
is so very hard to find
and in the end few people
choose to be kind causing
life sometimes to be a
real grind.

I've learned that
being truthful with others sometimes hurts
but makes it so much easier to
live with yourself and you
will feel less pain and you have
so much more
to gain.

I've learned that after
all of my sixty-three years
I have learned so much
but still know so very little
and with each new day I am given
I still learn more but still wish I
knew what to do,
don't you?                                                            J­on York                   2012

There are many feathers in my headdress
and there are so many things in my medicine
bundle and there is great love in my heart and
with these things I will traverse the many
miles I have yet to travel and I have learned
by experience and age that I alone am
responsible for the quality of my life and
so it goes.

We all have our demons and we are all works
in progress just trying to grow into our better
selves and during our growth we find that
nostalgia is a ***** liar that insists that things
are better than they seemed but you only fail
if you stop trying and so it goes.

As the years flash by, on the outside of us
everything changes, but what really matters
is on the inside and that mostly remains the
same, even after years of playing the other
persons games and you can't help but
wonder if you had done things differently
would the outcome still be the same and
so it goes.

We all fall in love, though we have so many
secrets and there are some we never tell
and we disregard the danger and know that
everyone goes south now and then so don't
be afraid to try again knowing that it takes
strength to love again and so it goes.

It also takes courage to be loved and it takes
strength to survive but know that it
takes courage to live, just as it takes strength
to feel a friends pain but it takes courage to
feel your own pain and so it goes.

Along the way we learn that those people
that are quick to walk away are the ones
that never intended to stay and so it goes.

So few win and so many lose, so you
wash what is *****, water what is dry, heal
what is wounded, sooth what is hurt, and
dry the tears that are shed, warm what is
cold, guide what goes off the road, and
love those who are least lovable because
they need it the most and so it goes.
                                                           ­       Jon York   2015

Sometimes
                 you   just
                 have to be  
                 your  own
                 hero. Some
           days you just have
              to create your
                       own
                  sunshine.

                    Do not
            judge your story
                     by the
               chapter you
              walked  in  on.
          
                 Life  always
                       offers
                you a second
                   choice. It's
                       called
                  tomorrow.
                        And
                       when
            tomorrow arrives
                 keep a smile
                     on your
              face. It's the best
                    accessory
                         you
                    can wear.
                                                                                              Jon York   2019

Life is really amazing out there
so I write poems about it and if
I can learn to master change
rather than allow it to master me
I will continue to write poems
about life while continuing to
enjoy it not going through it
acting as if it will never end
and simply following every trend.

My poetry is not obscure and
it speaks clearly about things
that readers can recognize in a
language that can be understood
and it focuses upon feelings and
responses that we have all shared.

My poems have a simplicity and
a directness and communicate
directly without confronting the
reader with either excessive
difficulties either of language
or allusion.

My poems live on their page in an
unrehearsed natural rhythm of
experience and moment of time
rather than of ideas and above all it
is readable while focusing upon
significant and recognizable human
feelings and responses of daily life.
                                                              Jon York      2014

You realize that a $3000 watch
and a $30 watch tell the same
time.

A Michael Kors wallet and a
Forever 21 wallet hold the same
amount of money.

A $950,000 house and a $100,000
house host the same loneliness.

A Ford will also drive you as far
as a Bentley.

True happiness is not found in
materialistic things. It comes
from the love and laughter
found with each other.

And sometimes the smallest step
in the right direction ends up being
the biggest step of your life, so
tip toe if you must, but take the
step.

Stay humble....the holes dug for
us in the ground are all the same
size.
                                                      ­                           Jon York  2018

We are only here for a short visit so don't
hurry and don't worry and be sure to smell
the flowers along the way and be an optimist
and see the opportunity in every difficulty,
not the difficulty in every opportunity.

The trick is to just keep breathing, knowing
that there were those times when you were
in a dark place, buried and left for dead but
actually you were planted and were able to
grow in new directions.

Know what you are able to bring to the table
and trust yourself when you say that you are
not afraid to eat alone knowing that everything
is hard before it is easy as you discover that
your mind is saying go but your body says no.

Don't go through life, grow through life and
enjoy the moment because you never get the
same moment twice in life so celebrate every
tiny victory and when life is sweet, say thank
you and celebrate and when life is bitter, say
thank you and grow.

You can't do anything about the length of your
life, but you can do something about its width
and its depth and know you can't change your
situation but you can change how you choose to
deal with it and never worry about tomorrow
like it is promised, because tomorrow is never
guaranteed.

Just because some people are fueled by drama
doesn't mean you have to attend the performance,
so just live for those moments that can't be put into
words and remind yourself that it's okay not to be
perfect and learn to appreciate life as it happens
because those moments will soon pass and you will
wish that you had treasured them more.
                                                                                 Jon  York      2016

I  don't  want  calm,
    I want intense,
I  want  the   passion
       in your eyes
       to  burn me
          to  the
            bone.
               I
        want the    
           pure
       sight of me
              to
           make
            your
            soul
            moan.
                                     ­                                                   Jon York   2019

The flaw
         of the world?
       Everyone wants
         to fall in love
           with love
          and no one
         wants to fall
          in love with
               pain.
      And the truth is
    we  are  all   novels;
      our pages stained
  with   the   fingerprints
          of either our
                lovers
          or loneliness.
      And you run out
               of tears
    long before you run
           out of hurt.
                                                                                                Jon York    2019

The road is long with many a winding turns
of which there is no return and for some it is
straight, smooth. and clear while for others
the road is bumpy and cloudy filled twists
and turns

There are those who never need to worry
about their journey because everything is
handed to them on a silver platter while
for others it seems a different matter as
some have to dig and claw to get down
that road while carrying a much heavier
load making it easier for them to fall.

Don't compare your life to others because
sometimes life isn't fair bit it is still good and
it is too short to waste time hating anyone
because the past cannot be changed and the
future is yet to come and no one is in charge
of your happiness except you.

In all of my life-changing events I have
always chosen life when it would have been
easier to choose a suicide death but I have
forgiven everyone everything and given
time the needed time.

However bad something was and however
many lies I was told I knew it would change
and I would be loved and respected not
because of something I  did or didn't do but
for who and what I am and I realized that
growing old beats the alternative of
dying young.

As a poet I tell my tales with words of truth
that can touch you or burn you and in
those words I know that life is not tied with
a bow but it is still a gift and sometimes
I am impatient and sometimes a little
insecure while I make mistakes along the way
but if you can't handle my worst than you
don't deserve my best.

It's not the words of our enemies that we
remember the most but the silence of our
so-called friends that cuts so deep but over it
this poet won't lose any sleep.          
                                                ­              Jon York     2015

You brought my emotions alive again,
you made made laugh, you made me cry
and you made me feel alive.
Together we made the past the past,
knowing that we are the future.
You make me smile in the morning and
I kiss you softly to sleep at night.

There is a special bond that no one can see,
I speak your thoughts before you say them,
and you know what is on my mind before I
tell you, and it seems that you always kinow
what to do.

Our hearts have found a home, but the path
was sometimes rocky and  paved with tears,
but  each of the steps toward one another
made our joining much more sincere.

Real love sometimes we have to work  to find,
especially when life gets in the way, but this
kind of love is worth  fighting  for  because
this kind of love will  always  stay.

The search is over because this love is just
too strong to deny, and I don't even have to
ask why. You inspired me, is What You Did
and I give thanks for each new day with
you at my side.                                           Jon York

Half    naked

          cuddling      &

          slow     nasty

          tongue kissing

          needed   now.

           Only   females

           with  beautiful

          souls, blue eyes &      

            beautiful    lips

            wanted,  please.
   ­                                                                 ­ Jon York   2019

Do you like what you see,
when you look in the mirror ?
Or does the image just bring a tear.

Does the person that you see,
just want to be free of the
guilt for what you have
done to yourself, and of all
of the things that you didn't
do when you had the chance
to dance.

Just missed by a fraction you
tell the image, and why did
you let it slip away, why didn't
you take action ?
Were you thinking that the chance
might be back someday ?

Tell the image," the time is now,
do what you have to do,
to get it right.
Now is all that we have, don't
live in the past, let it shape you,
and give you a direction.

Learn to love what you see in the
mirror and this will set you free.
Try to understand what you need
to do, in order to love others.

Our time here is so short,
listen to what you hear,
and get rid of your fears.

Hold life to be dear, and
let it be clear that it all is
up to you, what you have to do.

Learn to respect what you see
in the mirror, and be thankful
that you are able to understand
the image that is looking at you.
                                            Jon York    2010

My life is poetry and I am always
with pen and paper close at hand
knowing that my experiences
both past and present give me
the words that I write.  

I live these remaining days of my
life, however long that may be,
just a soul in this crazy beautiful world
with poetry as my art and I dwell
within these shadows but it is
in these shadows that I can see,
being careful, calm, and free.

Haunted by memories
that return to me in my sleep,
I go to these empty places
filled with empty faces
always trying to
consume me.

So many thoughts in my head
as I sleep and so many when
I am awake leaving me
to think to myself that it is
such a waste not to write them down,
knowing that what has happened to me
is poetry in motion even though
they sometimes cause me to frown.

I have tasted the fruits of love
and from them come my words
and they prove to be
a never ending
source for my poetry
and I will write as long as time
permits me to do so
and as long as there's
breath within me.                                    Jon York        2013

If. . . .
I didn't know now
what I didn't know then
would I do things differently
and would the outcome
still be the same.

If. . . .
I can keep getting
back up after being knocked down
and laughed at
then I won't anymore
be a clown or wear
a frown.

If. . . .
I can bear
to hear the truth I have spoken
and I refuse to deal
with others lies then
it won't be I who
cries.

If. . . .
I can dream and
not make dreams
my master then
those dreams can
become reality
even when others
doubt me.

If. . . .
I can wait
and not be tired by waiting
because I know that love
will again be mine
and there will be
no more tears
for the rest of my
years.

If. . . .
I can remain strong
even after all is gone and rebuild
even better than before
I can even the score
and then I will get so much more
handed to me in time
and then I can write many more rhymes
for the world to read
and I will have filled my need
to write.

If. . . .
I can realize that my wisdom
is not a product of schooling
but of a lifelong attempt to acquire it
then I will survive
knowing that not everything that counts
can be counted and not everything
that can be counted
counts.                   Jon  York                 2012

As you get
older you
gather
layers of
life.

You wear
them
proudly or
they take
you down.

I choose to
wear mine.                
                                         Jon York   2016

In six days I will turn 73.
When I was young, a little boy,
I always thought 40 was old.

When I was 40 years old,
I thought 80 was old.

Now I'm 72, I still like to rock
and roll every night and
listening to classic rock is one
of my favorite pastimes.

Nursing homes I will never go,
because I'm smart as a whip,
not thoughtless and old.

People treat me very strange,
as if I'm dying or deranged.

But I'm just fine,
now that I'm approaching 80 and
thought of as old.

I just laugh and think,
wait until they're 80 years old.                                       Jon York    2021

Believe  me  when I
say "I  always  think  
of  you."  No  matter
how  busy  I am.  No
matter  what  I   am
doing. My  brain   is  
constantly  thinking  
of   you.

Arms  I  want  to  be
wrapped  in,  eyes  I
want  to  be  lost   in.

Perhaps  I am  being
too hopeful to think
that  you  and  I   are
taking  a detour  while  
finding    our   way
back  to  each   other.

I  am  still  convinced
the   rest  of   my   life
looks  like  you  and I
just want to taste your
lips  before  my  coffee
every morning.

I want  to see a whole
world  of   different
sunsets  with  you.                                        Jon York   2019

You make such
          a perfect
        arrangement
          of atoms.

          Sitting next
            to you
             is like
          taking a sip
          of eternity,
      the sun, the stars,
              the sky,
          never tasted
            so good.

         If you tell me
         you love me,
        chances are I'll
        spend forever
        proving I love
           you more.

         Make me feel
            like I'm a
    river, and you have
          been thirsty
          your entire
                  life.                                                                       Jon York  2019

I swim in a sea of words floating around in my
head and I am sometimes beaten down by the
waves but I have managed to survive and am
still alive and I have not given up on life even
when surrounded by strife.

Can't say. . .
that I haven't had enough time or that I don't have
enough time left in my life to be productive or say
something with my words that will affect people
that I teach and those that read me.
Can say. . .
that it is never too late in my life to find real love
because love is all around me even though I can't
see it or touch it but I know that she is out there
somewhere and all I have to be able to is see it.

Can't say. . .
that I won't survive the reality of the past because I
am still here after so many years and after so many
near death experiences and I can't say that I don't
hold my life to be dear.
Can say. . .
that it seems like the older I get the more questions I
have and no one to answer them and nothing makes
sense anymore but as I get older the more I discover
that learning is discovering what I didn't even know
I didn't know.

Can't say. . .
that I have felt everything that I am going to feel and
from here on out I am only going to feel lesser versions
of what I have already felt.
Can say. . .
that I still learn something new every day and I still
have a lot more words to put out there if I dare and
that it is so important , even at my age, to dream and
dance for laughter, dance for tears, and to dance for
hopes and dance for screams because we are the
dancers and we all create our own dreams.
                                                         ­                        Jon York   2016

I'm   going  to  start

    at  your lips  and

      then work my

        way further

       down south...  
      
          You wanna

           come   over,

      and maybe come

         over and over?

            I  find  myself

          drawn to people

                who are

               intelligent,

               funny, and

                perverted.                                                 Jon York   2019

I am just glad to be here,
in this place with the one
that I hold so dear,
this beautiful Angel that
came out of nowhere, with
so much to say, I give
thanks for this day, because
I know that she is here to stay,
and we know together we
will win this race. I am so
happy to be Where I am Today.

I look at her and just don't know
what to say, except that my love
is true, and so are you, and that
you will never be blue.

For her I changed my life, this
lady that will be my wife,
together our lives will never
be the same, because it is the
start of a brand new game,
and eternal is the flame.

It just gets better every day,
and I still look for the right words to say,
so for now I just hope and pray that
tomorrow that I will be given another
day, with her by my side, and the
only three words I ever need to say
are " I love you".

Loves, like the years,come and go
so fast. A blink and they are gone.
But we know this one is meant to last.
However long we are together we
both know we have to forget the past.
We must live these precious moments
in this place that we are in right now,
this place Where I am today.
                                                           Jon York

As I grow older I learn that pleasing everyone
is impossible but ******* everyone off is a
piece of cake and what screws us up most in
life is the picture in our head of how it is
supposed to be and we often become blind
and refuse to see what is right in front of us
moving us to disgust.

Hurt me with the truth if you have to but
never try to comfort me with lies and know
that it is during the worst times of our lives
that we get to see the true colors of some of
the people who say they care for us and
nothing worth having comes easy and
sometimes you don't get closure, you just
move on.

I am stronger because I have had to be and
smarter because of my mistakes and happier
because of the sadness I have known and
thankful for my struggles because without
them I would not have stumbled across my
strengths.

What comes easy doesn't last and what lasts
doesn't usually come easy and our greatest
pains often become our greatest strengths
so be strong enough to stand alone and smart
enough to know when you need help and
brave enough to ask for it.    
                                                         ­                    Jon  York    2016

I like to think
that I am nothing special,
a common man with
common thoughts that has
lived a common life.

I am just a man
with a desire to be read
by someone before
I am dead.

I am a common poet
who likes to put words together
that take one on a journey
of the senses that get people
get off of their fences.

I've been to
so many places and felt
so many different emotions
but with the emotion of love
the words just come
and come until you begin
to feel numb.

The only one emotion for me
that is really worth
writing about
is love.

When you have loved another
with all of your heart and soul
there is nothing else
that you ever need
to know and nothing will
ever compare.

This kind of love
just takes your senses on a ride
and makes you
feel funny inside.

You feel as if you had wings
and you start doing crazy things
that are beyond
your control.

Things that feel so good
and for me this has always been
enough because once you have lived
and loved in that way nothing
can ever compare.

Losing that kind of love
is a whole different story though
and of this I know
and this is a terrible place
that you don't want
to go.

Life becomes so slow
and all of a sudden you have
nowhere to hide so you just slide
into words and write poetry
hoping to ease the pain
from losing what you spent
an eternity trying to gain...                 Jon York     2012

The best thing you can ever do is
to believe in yourself and take it
day by day being grateful for every
breath you take and realizing that
you are not a product of your
circumstances but a product of
your decisions and recognizing that
along the way of your journey
sometimes you must fight a battle
more than once to win it.

Have the courage to embrace dreams
and the strength to sacrifice for them
and the determination to fulfill them
because life goes faster than you think
and in the end we are all just humans
and that should be enough.

Learn quickly that you alone are
responsible for the quality of your life
and when you decide that your life is
your own only then can the first day
of your life really begin so decide
what you want and decide that there
is no better time than now to get it
no matter how far along you are
in your years.

Nothing haunts us like the things we
didn't say and hell is something you
carry around with you, not somewhere
to go so survive by forgetting and
finding that quiet voice at the end of the
day saying"I will try again tomorrow."
                                                                      Jon York       2015

I still hide you
    in my poetry and long after
             I have given up,
      my  heart still searches
                  for you
                without
                    my
               permission.

            Life is so ironic.
     It  takes  sadness  to  know
         what happiness is,
                   noise to
           appreciate silence.

                  The most
       beautiful things in life
               are not things,
     they're people and places,
             and memories and
                   pictures.
           They're feelings and
              moments and
                      smiles
                and laughter.

               Memories
       are always  special.
           We laugh by
     remembering the days
               we cried,
And we cry remembering
              the days
            we laughed.....!!    
               That's life.                                                    Jon York   2019

Some people and some things
that take place
in your life you cannot ever forget
so all that you can do is
just move on.

I am just happy to be alive
and to have made it this far down
that treacherous road of life
as we ask ourselves day in and day out
what this life is really
all about.

Love is something that
we all try to embrace and sometimes
it just hits us in the face
causing us to be sad or to be glad
as we ask ourselves
what is this love really
all about.

You hope that the scars
that are left will soon be gone
and will not influence
what you have to do for
the rest of your life.

We go through life
and remember people and events
and places that we wish had never been to
or seen so we bury them
and try not to think about them again
but at what cost
as we wish that we could
come out of it clean
as we pretend that they
never really happened.

Living a good life
after fighting a war
in a far away land and another at home
in the promise land
caused many of us to just
stick our heads in
the sand.

Tasting a love
that you thought was real
but turned out to be only lies
that brought many cries
and forever changed how you look
at trust only makes moving
on a must.

There is just no escape from reality
so we lie to oueselves
and pretend that they never happened
but some things and some people
you just don't ever forget
so you just move on.        Jon York                 2012

A blank page is staring at me, cursing me and
laughing at me, who is always nostalgic and in
need of solitude I am because I let life pass me
by as I rolled down this highway of life.

I've been trying to catch it but have run out of
time as my life has been a roller coaster rhyme
going from bright as a star to deep dark and
sublime but have committed no crime.

Out of time with no one else is in my rhyme
but that is not really a crime but there was a
day when being alone this far down the line
was something I could never say but it just
turned out that way.

I've had my day in the sun, my fifth teen
minutes of fame and I've played their game
and as a result I will never be the same and
it appears that all I did was not run from
anybody else but only myself and I still run
from what I had to do in a far away land
with a gun in my hand and still it never lets
me sleep because I have to face Charlie
every night and day because the memories
will just not go away.

As the end of my life nears I don't to shed
any more tears because I've had so many
good years and so many loves and have
written so many words about those times
and those words will remain long after I
am gone so for now all I can do now is to
remain strong until it is time to be gone
knowing that if only time were a friend
of mine I wouldn't feel the need to write
this rhyme.                                           Jon York    2016

Every human being
is different
and we each have our own story
so just be you
and be okay with it
and feel your own glory
and know that our mistakes
make us who we are
so learn and grow
with each choice that you make
because life isn't
about finding yourself
it is about creating
yourself.

Everything is worth it
and everything happens
for a reason just like
the changing seasons
so know that you are powerful
because you have
survived.

At some point we have to
let go of all of the
pointless drama around us
and let go of those who create it
but because it is so hard
to forget the bad we must
just focus on the good
because life is way too short
to be anything but happy
and at the same time realize
that time doesn't exist
only clocks exist.

Learn to love the skin you are in
and always be you
and be okay with it
because no one can
make you feel inferior
without your consent
and try to discover
that the important things in life
are always simple
but simple things are always
the hardest.                                         Jon  York         2012

I Love and
    I cherish every
         aspect of
the divine feminine
       that  stands
         before me.
            I feel
     her and I touch
        every part
            of her
      angelic body
        and to her
                 I
whisper the truths
    my heart holds.
         And she
  embraces the full  
     embodiment  
of  her soul's essence
  and  now the only
piece left to finish this
    exquisite mosaic
is the sacred union she
    shares with me,
her divine masculine,
     and notice how
she glows differently
    when loved right
               and
    treated  properly.                                       ­                  Jon York   2019

Have  the  power  to
exorcise  ghosts  and
demons that  are still
lingering from the old
days and your old ways.

Be able to transform the
way your history affects
you.

Knot by knot untie yourself
from your past and let it
rise away from you like
a ballon.  

Become adept at the process
of  self-inquiry and symbolic
insight, leading to the growth
of faith in yourself.
                                                                                                Jon York  2022

Every day is a poem.  Poetry  is  therapy, whether  you're
reading  it, writing  it, or  simply  evoking  it  in  thought
patterns and perspectives.

Pain,  both  physical  or  mental, is  part  of life.  It  is what
makes us  human;  it shapes us the same as  love. Through
poetry we touch the places that are too painful to linger in.

Be your own hero. Let your pain be a source of inspiration,
turn your heavy load into poetry, own  it, use  it, and take
as  much from it now as  it has taken  from you in the past.
Embrace pain and burn it as fuel for your journey.  You're
a dangerous person  if  you go  through  things  alone and
come back better.

In  our writing, we  can uncover the  how and  why of our
pain, looking deeper into the process of its becoming, and
then we begin to dismantle it.

Turn pain  into power,  sadness into strength,  words  into
wisdom.  Pain makes  you  stronger, heartache makes you
wiser. Let your pain become your power.
                                                                                              Jon York  2023

Aging is an extraordinary process
              where you become the
            person  you  always  should
                        ­  have been.

              A satisfied life is better
         than a successful life.  Because
OUR SUCCESS IS MEASURED BY OTHERS
      but our satisfaction is measured
          by our own soul, mind
                  and heart.

    The greatest prison people live
in is  fear of what  other people  think.
   Everything we hear is an opinion,
                        not a fact.
   Everything we see is a perspective,
                        not the truth.

      People don't want to hear the truth
            because they don't want
           their  illusions  destroyed.
                                    ­                                                  Jon York   2021

This may well destroy me
and I am entirely,
completely,
and magnificently
alright with that.

I am haunted
by the things I miss
and all the times my name
doesn't fill your mouth.

I need a word
for the way that feels,
for all the combinations
of all the letters, don't
seem to say it properly

I know the way
to your toes curled
and palms filled
with sheets squeezed.
It matters not
that I did not build
the roads, for no one
can drive them
like me.

Will you come
and roll yourself
carelessly in my bed?
If leave you must
then leave you must,
the scent of you
behind.

                                                    ­                                    Jon York   2019

Match the frequency
of the reality you want
and you will get that reality
today because yesterday
is history and tomorrow
is a mystery but know
that today is a gift.

Forget what hurt you
in the past and never forget
what it taught you as you
find balance over your years,
as you live for today
and answer to nobody
except yourself.

Start the next chapter
of your life and if you
find someone who
makes you smile
and someone who
checks up on you often
to see if your okay
and someone who watches
out for you and wants
the very best for you,
don't let them go.

Keep them close
and never take them
for granted because
people like that
are just too hard
to find.

Get out of your own way
and you will be surprised
what will come to you
and realize that choice,
not chance determines
your destiny, so make
the right choice.         Jon York       2013

The movie never ends and it just
goes on and on and on and we
make the same mistakes over
and over again.

No apologies or excuses when
we can finally decide that our
life is our own and we alone
are responsible for the quality
of it and it is then that we
discover what an amazing
journey it is and it is then
that our life begins.

Limited because we always
seem to limit ourselves to what
we are told or to what is bought
and sold and what we can do
with what society tells us is
right or wrong so we just keep
replaying the same old song.

Images are given to us when
we are young about what is
right and what is wrong so we
sing their song until me are
mature enough to make our
own decisions that bring the
best results.

For the best we try to make
our life but sometimes we don't
count on the heart interfering
with our direction and playing
a major part  in our decisions
that we choose and this
sometimes causes us to go
wrong and we lose.

But by our mistakes we can
hope to get stronger
and realize that it is not
about how long we are here
but it is about what
we leave and how long
our legacy will last.

Eternity has no mass or no
dimensions but it lasts forever
and you can't hold it but you
can feel it as it just goes on
and on.

You can steer yourself in any
direction that you choose
because you are on your own
in this movie and only you can
choose where to go but you
should know that every challenge
be it great or small moves you
to look deeper and draw forth
the highest in you.

Burning and freezing at the
same time sometimes your
guarded heart sees defeat
but the feeling of love still
lingers in the heart but you
have to realize that it is gone
and you can't turn back and
the hours are not really ours
but only borrowed yet we
pretend to spend them.                            Jon York             2012

Sometimes words are not
enough to describe what I feel
and sometimes I just want to
watch the sunsets and dance in the rain
and greet the day with love in my heart
that feels a little less pain.

There can never be a rainbow
without some rain so drink your tears
from the fountain of wisdom as you
embrace your fears for this is your
armor for your battles
yet to come.

We ask what is love,
is it happiness and is it what
every one hopes for and
if I had a single flower for every time
I thought I had found love,
I could walk forever
in my garden.

Love broke through to me
and made me feel so alive and
so fulfilled and I am no longer fragile,
but strong because what was thought
to be broken beyond repair is
healed now as the myriad fragments
were collected and put back together
and repaired as love gave me hope
and a reason to carry on.

Love is the sole reason that I feel
like I do and with each passing morning
I am reborn anew and with the colors I paint
I can't quite capture the hue.                           Jon York     2013

Think about what you think and be grateful
for what you are and for what you have and
realize life while you live it and no matter
what you are doing be your own master and
don't let outside forces control you.

One choice can transform you as you try to
answer every question that can be answered
which allows you to live before you die and
pay attention to every second which enables
you to remember what it is like to be human.

One choice can destroy you as you challenge
your illogical thought processes while you are
here and value every moment knowing that it
is not what you say but how you say it and if
it is right.

One choice can define you as correct answers
must be affirmed so you can live the life that
you chose even if you think that you might lose.

One choice can take you there but be sure it is
where you want to go and if it isn't where you
want to go be able to find your way back.
                                                           ­           Jon York       2016

Daily doses of inspiration & wisdom
are highly recommended for our health and well being
and when you find that you can tell your stories
without bringing up any pain then you know
you are healed or starting on the road to healing
and you will know when you start
to get that feeling.
]
In my words and poems I tell stories
of changes, stories of love found and love lost
and maybe a little about the cost of love,
and yes in the beginning there was a lot
of hurt and pain but as the words came
it started slowly to go.

At first it was very slow but as
more words and poems came I found that I no longer
had to feel such misery and pain and I actually
began to feel like I had something to gain
and something to give to others
with the same.

So many poems it took to wash away the pain
and I hope my words will let others see
that words and poems can set you free
and as I breathe and release that which
no longer serves me knowing that change
is a process, not an event, I finally realized
that the love you take is equal
to the love you make.

The power of the universe will come
to your assistance if your heart and mind
are in unity so in the end be kind
because EVERYONE is fighting their own battles
and trying to find their own
peace of mind.             Jon York       2013

Bring love
and you will
feel it's strength
and you will know
that love
comes to those
who hope even though
they have been
disappointed.

Love comes
to those who believe
despite having
been betrayed.

Love comes
to those who can
still love even though
they have been hurt
so many times
before.

Only a powerful soul
can offer love
and be humble and
that kind of soul
realizes
that any time
not spent on love
is wasted.

Love the ones
who treat you right
and forget the ones
who don't
and in the end know
that everything happens
for a reason so just
move on to
the next season
keeping love in
your heart.                          Jon York          2013

Shared laughter in sheets
says  more  of   ****
than   a   thousand
sensuous   sighs
stirring  across  the
softest  satin.

Let us make
quiet   love,
soft   sighed
ans slow stirred;
glancing grazes
and beautiful
gasps.

Swallow
your loudest screams
and yell instead
with squeezing
    hands.

Do you think it possible
that some people
are born to give
more love
then they will ever
get   back
in   return?
                                                         ­                     Jon York   2019

I want to be the
      reason  you  look
        down at your
      phone and smile.  

      Then walk into
              a pole.
                                                             Jon York   2019

EMBRACE THE ****
                                        verb, military slang

                     To

        CONSCIOUSLY

               ACCEPT
                     or
           APPRECIATE
             something
                   that
                     is
            EXTREMELY

          UNPLEASANT
                    ­but
         UNAVOIDABLE
                      for
              FORWARD

         PROGRESSION.

in the game of life sometimes it is necessary to accept and live with something that is extremely unpleasant but totally unavoidable in
order to progress forward to the dream or the place we wish to be, in other words, we embrace the ****.

                                                          ­                                Jon York   2019

Dreams
I'm a thousand miles from you tonight
this world doesn't seem to be just right
I gaze into a far off space and dream
that I am in your embrace then I wake
up and it's dawn and my dreams have
faded -- you are gone.

The tender words that you once
said I draw about me like a warm
cloak for protection against the
biting words of your scorn.

            Compensation
Weeks of anxious waiting, days of
loneliness, banished in an instant by
one fond caress.
Hours of desperation; agony, despair
-- vanished and forgotten when you
                                           say you care.
Endless nights of longing, slowly
moving time...swept into oblivion
when your lips touch mine.

Other hearts may love you, other
lips pressed to thine, but no heart
will ever love you like this broken
               heart of mine.


       Monday --Thursday
    all this week -- I have
loved you -- cheek to cheek
     Friday -- Saturday, today
somehow love has slipped away
     Last week -- this week
    three weeks hence, your
      rating has dropped
         to thirty cents.

The years have been long and
the words have been few and
    though I agreed to part,
          I still love you --
I have tried to forget but that
is hard to do when all things
remind me - I still love you.

The gold of the sun recalls the gold
of your hair, that halo almost divine,
and the blue of the skies brings back
the blue of your eyes,
I long for you, sweetheart of mine,
Don't you often regret that I'm not
there to say - I still love you.

                 Prayer
                O  God
           I don not ask
         for a better day
             I only ask
             that I may
                live it
        in a better way.
                                         Jon York    2017

So very young  and so in love, the  first  love
that you never forget. You went somewhere
(I had no idea where)and I went to Alaska and
then I  went  to  war  and  the  years  began to
fade the memories, erasing lines of dialogue,
making  vague  the  dates  and  the  places...

...my lips and skin still remember, my hands
will still know all the contours...

...and clearly feel the touch of you.

We both had a dream of love. We looked for
it  in the hidden places of  the  future,  in the
secret places of our hearts.

Fifty years later you found me and I can't help
but think that you may have never been mine,
but I was yours and I still all these years later
go to bed every night wondering how it would
feel  to  have you here  with me. True  intimacy
happens when nothing is perfect.

You are many miles away, married, living in your
castle,and I can't help but feel you are scared to
meet me again after so many years even though
you made the effort to find me, contact me and let
me know that your heart was still heavy with thoughts
of me after so many years apart.                                    
                      ­                                                                 ­        Jon York 2021

I always knew that somehow
I would get by
but sometimes I had to cry about
the things I did and the things
that I should have done and
if I had then maybe
I could have won.  

Was it just about the money
and if that is all it was
then I find that really funny
because money isn't really
all that it takes to have a life
that is sunny.

Maybe it is about the love
that you give
and the love that you recieve
and how much you really believe
in yourself and what you really are
and not what others
think you are.

Don't find it necessary
to pretend to be a star
and try to accept who
and what you really are
and then you really
can be a star.

Follow the road
that you have chosen to follow
and if you are real this
will help you to seal the deal
and you won't have to steal
and realize that if you don't have
a chosen path not  just any road
will get you there.

If my words don't make sense
then just get off of your fence
and do what is right
and then you may live to see
another day and night
and then maybe you will see
what life is really about
and maybe then you
can get it right.                          Jon   York           2012

I  have  good days and  bad  days.
And on both I am thinking of you.

Yes, I am thinking about you right
now.  I  thought about  when  this
morning when I woke up....Lovely
perverted, naughty and wickedly
beautiful thoughts.

My hands can't touch you, but my
mind  can't  leave  you  alone.

When I close  my  eyes I see you.
When I open my eyes I miss you.

I  never  craved  attention  until I
tasted yours.

Can  you  feel  me  when  I  think
about you?
                                                            ­                                Jon York   2024

Sometimes. . .  everyone seems normal,
until you get to know them,
                 . . .  we have to accept that not
every situation is a win, but every single one
is a learning experience,
                 . . . we have to realize that there are
far, far better things ahead, than any we
leave behind,
                 . . . it is the mind-forged handcuffs
that are the hardest to break.
                 . . . we will meet someone whose soul
is not aligned with ours, send them love
and move along,

Sometimes. . . the secret of change is to focus
all of our energy on the new, not on fighting the old,
                 . . . it is necessary to stretch outside our
comfort zone and expand our consciousness,
                 . . . we will find what we are looking for,
or maybe we won't.
                 . . . it's better to die on your feet than to
live on your knees,

Sometimes. . . we get distracted and we forget to look
at the most beautiful things in life,
                  . . . the distance between your dreams and
your reality is called action,
                 . . . it is a blessing and sometimes it is a curse
to feel everything so deeply,
                 . . . I am humble enough to know that I'm
not better than anybody and sometimes I am wise
enough to know that I'm different from the rest,
                 . . . we have to be our self in a world that is
constantly trying to make us something else.

Sometimes. . . we have to realize that no matter
who we are or what we have been through, we are
capable of finding peace,
                 . . . we have to realize that we will get there
when we are meant to get there, so we must relax,
breathe and be patient,
                 . . . comparing our self to others is a fools
game and will steal our joy and the only person that
we should compare our self to is the person
we were yesterday,
                 . . . 'later' often becomes 'never' so what are you
waiting for.                                                   Jon York      2014

If I could be anything,
   I would be yours.
                                                                                              Jon York   2019

So what if I didn't
give her butter flies,
who needs butter flies
if you have real love.

Life isn't a paperback
novel or a romantic
Hollywood movie.
Butter flies quickly
disappear as soon as
they appear but real
love stays.

So what if she could only
pretend that she loved me,
so she could use me. She is
the one who has to live with
herself and look into
the mirror everyday.

So what if I didn't really
love her, but only loved
what I wanted her to be
and what I knew she was
capable of being.

It is all the same, it's all
a big game that we call life.
Two people play their parts
because they think that they
don't want to be alone but
soon discover that they have
to answer to that person who
loves them and and that they
supposedly loved back, so they
go back to being alone.

So what if somebody gets hurt,
for life is full of hurt and lies and
it is how you deal with those false
promises that determines
who you are in the end.

So what if money changes
everything because that's
just the way it is and the
way that it will always be.

So what if we go through life
never really happy but
only pretending to be happy,
for obtaining happiness is
different for every person.

So what if everybody goes
through life with their own idea
of what it takes to be happy and
what they think they are being
told by society as to what
they need to be happy.

Get over it, we are all going to die
and it is up to you to decide how
you want to life your life while
your here on earth until you
get there, happy or not.

So what if you choose wrong,
it's all the same, it's just all
a big game and you must
learn how to play it in order
to survive.                                     Jon York   2011

I am getting so much closer to the end and cannot pretend anymore.
I an old and gray but still have a lot to say.
I am so many memories of loves gone by and know that there will be one more before I die.
I am saddened that none wanted to stay but they just wanted to play for awhile and tell those lies while trying to find those blue skies.
I am that perfect love that  I know will walk through that door to make me happy just once more.
I am tired legs and painful joints but know that I must keep on going because that is what I do best, to be able to just keep on going no matter what life hands me.
I am a well read popular Poet with many loyal followers that wait for new words with anticipation.
I am a writer that writes poetry about life, loves lost and found, and the pain and happiness they bring, and sometmes I write about everything that is just going on around my world and I just keep on doing my thing.
I am love for my loyal dogs who never leave my side with unconditional love as if from above.
I am the tears that you cry as you read these words.
I am....                                                           ­                                                             Jon York               2012