In 2025
Be Brave
Be kind
Be happy
Be creative
Be you.

Even  with  all  the  greed and
stupidity  and  terrible  things
that  we're  all  facing, reading
in  the  news, or  experiencing,
just want to be alive. Just want
to  breathe  and do your work.

In  2025  start  dreaming  and
scheming  about  who  you're
going to  be  in the  new  year.

Dream until your dreams come
true.
                                                                                               Jon York 2025

I cherish how you make me feel,
I cherish how you always deal.

I cherish how you gaze at me,
I cherish how you think and see.

I cherish how you make me truly glad,
I cherish how you wipe away my feeling sad.

I cherish how you protect me with such care,
I cherish how, for me, you're always there. 🤍

You and I . . . we are embers from the same fire,
we are dust from the same star, we  are  echoes
of the same love.

I  love how you are deciphering  the  code  you
left  yourself before  you came  into  this  life.

I  love  your  renegade  soul  and I  love  your
ever-deepening baby blue eyes as you peer into
the heart of your own darkness.

I  love how you're  making  yourself  more
receptive to truths in their wild states.

I  love how you can  lose yourself  in  passion
but never shirk your commitment to the good
and the  true.

I love how you  never  bare  a  grudge against
the mountains that are in your way but  rather  
just work  to  get around  them.
                                                   ­                                           Jon York  2024

In French you don't say
"I  miss  you".   You say
"tu me manques", which
means "you are missing
from me."
I love that.

Do  what  makes  your
soul shine. Take time to
make  your soul  happy.
Put yourself at the top
of  your  to-do  list.

Sometimes I amaze myself.
Other times I can't remember
what day it is.

Be brave
Be kind
Be happy
Be creative
Be thankful
Be you.                                                                                Jon York   2024

"Kama muta" is Sanskrit term that refers
to an emotion  that might also  be  called
"moved by love."

It  is an under-recognized emotion that  has
evolved to bind us to others and strengthen
our relationships. It motivates us to embrace
and care for other people.

Kama muta enhances  our  commitment  to
our relationships and encourages  us to  act
with greater compassion and kindness.

We usually experience  it in some of the most
important events in our lives - and it is commonly
exploited by writers to enhance  the  emotional
impact of their stories.

You are  another  me.  If  I do  harm to  you,
I  harm  myself.  If  I  love  and respect  you,
I  love  and  respect  myself.
                                                                                           Jon York   2024

She walked through the door, her head looking down, perhaps scared to look at me for fear of what she may see. When in reality she was just scared of our first meeting in over 50 years, a length
of time that would bring anyone to tears.

I looked at her as she trembled and I said, "do you know why after all of this time I am still here?" "Because when love is true, it waits and as we slipped into an intimacy from which we never recovered, I said "guide me home, for you are the moon of my life, guide me home." "Let us make quiet love, soft sighed and slow stirred; glancing glazes and graceful gasps." "Swallow your loudest screams and yell instead with squeezing hands."

Some souls choose to wear their hearts on their sleeves, but I, brave or stupid or maybe both have chosen instead to wear mine on yours. Her love. . .simple, uninhibited, child like, spontaneous, filled with touching, poetry. She never grew up. .thank God!

Like a hummingbird in flight, always looking for a place to rest for the night, as she is weary from her travels afar and with natures careful planning she will touch the flowers of your soul, then wait for understanding'
                                                  ­                                     Jon York   2024

In  1964,  60 years ago,  I  was  16
and she was 14. Two souls searching
the universe  and when we met,  the
searching was over.

And I still think about her and those
crazy days together, her young skin
on my fingertips, her young  lips  on
mine.

But the Vietnam war turned my world
upside down and I would never be the
same.  

As I turn 76 today I go into the depths
of night to find my voice - thoughts forming
into feelings, then words on paper.

A poet navigating a tainted world.

When  you cannot  control  what's
happening, challenge yourself to control
the way you respond to what's happening.
That is where your power is.  

I write to capture fleeting moments, to fight
the PTSD in my head from a war, to capture
memories of young love and deep desires.
                                                                                             Jon York   2024