Back when I was nine
When I don't know what are beyond the line
Where everything was "just" a touch
Even when she did it at night in couch

When I turned twelve
They said dress according to yourselves
I wear a skirt that I feel
Every eyes are wanting me to peel

I remember a horrible day of fifteen
I wear shirt and pants of green
A cold sweat flush
A strange man grab my ***

I thought eighteen will be fine
Maliciousness will decline
Until someone asked
Join them in bed, I feel aghast

Now I'm twenty-one
Fear lived, doesn't gone
Every looked has a meaning
A memoir of harassing

"You're On Your Own"

Don't fear the pain,

use it,

keep it there,

beside you,

and maybe,

just maybe,

it will give you the words to say in a poem,

or the notes to play in a song,

for sometimes

it is flying with what hurts,

that gives us the colors to paint with.
                                                                                        Jon York    2018