I
  cannot
    put a
price, a value,
      or a
  worth on
       the
  quiet and
       the
   calm that
       you
  bring to me
        as I
         live
       in this
     constant
          and
     deafening
         noise
    that always
        seems
            to
      surround
            me.
     All I can do
          is say,
   " Thank you."
         and that
    " I love you."  
            for it.                                                              ­          Jon York  2019

When   two
people really
care   about
one  another,
they  always
   and I say
always, find
   a way to
make it work.
        NO
    MATTER
       HOW
      HARD
        IT IS.
                                                                                                 Jon York   2019

When two people really care
about each other, they always
find a way to make it work.
  No matter how hard it is.
                                                                                 Jon York   2019

No one
  is sent by accident
          to anyone
               and
      sometimes the
         two  people
           who are
   best for each other
        will have to
face greater obstacles
          in order to
    be with each other.

           There is no
      need  to  rush, if
         something is
   meant  to  be,  it will
            happen, in
    the right time with
              the right
    person for the best
               reason.

        When it's time
      for  two  souls  to
        meet, there's
    nothing  on  earth
 that   can  prevent  them
        from meeting,
    no   matter   where 
         each  may be
             located.
                                                        ­                                    Jon York   2019

Her arms wrapped around me,
                        her head on my chest,
her breath warning my chest.
         My warm breath caressing her forehead.
For both of us this is home,
       no matter where that may be.
                                                                                        Jon York   2019

Your
      arms are
      wrapped
.      around
           me,
     your head
           on
       my chest,
            my
    warm breath
      caressing
         your
      forehead,
          your
         breath
       warming
       my chest.
           For
         BOTH
             of
            us
         this is
        HOME
      no matter
         where
        this may
              be....                                         ­                          Jon York   2019

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

Hold  me
like my words do
when  I  have
no one else to.
                                                                                      Jon York   2019

Without
communication,
there is no
relationship;

Without respect,
there is no
love;

Without trust,
there is no
reason to
continue.
                     Jon York   2017

Music helps me
           to forget about the world
                           I live in
              and gives me reason
        to   end  something   useless
                      and move on.
           At times I fit into the lyrics
                    more than I fit
                          into life.
            In   many   life   situations
                      and events
          I  find  myself  in  I  can't  
                    explain how I
                        feel but I
           can find a song that can.
                   I love it when
            I  hear  lyrics  that  apply
                          to  my
                  current situation.
      Each memory has a soundtrack
                     all of its own,  
         even  if it is a bad memory
that you'd prefer to erase from your
                   mind forever.
            When  you  hear  that  
   particular song, the  bad memories
         are always there with it.
  Behind every song is an untold story.
              Someday it's gonna
                      make sense,
                     but for now.
no reason to stay is a good reason to go.
                                                                                              Jon York   2019

There is no remedy for love,
        but to have more.
                                                                                           Jon York   2019

ILOVEYOU; I wrote it
with  no    spaces    so
there's    no    room
       for anyone else.
                                                                                             Jon York   2019

The  two  most  powerful
warriors are patience and time.

Be careful who  you  make
memories   with  --  those
things  can last  a lifetime.

Don't   judge   others   just
because  they sin  differently than you.

Sometimes life is about risking
everything for a dream no one
can see but you.

Sometimes   wisdom   means
staying  quiet  while  others
loudly express their ignorance.

The key to keeping your balance
is knowing when you've lost it.

Our relationship should be a safe
heaven,  not a   battlefield.  The
world  is hard  enough  already.

Life is a journey to be experienced,
not a problem to be solved.

You could be my "come and stay"  
in a world of "people come and go."

The only thing I'm committed
to right now    is bettering myself.                                  Jon York   2019

So far I've survived 100%
of my worst days. There
is  no  failure, you either
win  or  you  learn.

They said I changed a lot.
I said a lot changed me.

No  rescue  will  come.  We
cannot  be saved  from  who
we are. Our past is engraved.

Life's biggest tragedy is that
we get old too soon and wise
too late.

Feelings are just visitors, let
them come and go.

"Strive not to be a success,
but rather to be of value."
                                          Albert Einstein

Only compare yourself to
your previous self, not
anyone else.                                                                        Jon York  2023

I'M  GOING  TO

MAKE    YOU

  SO      PROUD.
  note to self
                                                                                            Jin York   2019

The sun is shining, the clouds are breaking
and I can be strong, yes I can and know that
you gotta do this for you and know that this
is for you and isn't about anybody else. so
live for you and never lose sight of that.

Be crazy enough to know you can do
everything in life and sometimes you have
to be your own hero.

Know that a good day is a good day. A bad
day is a good story and at the end of the day
it is all good and perhaps we should love
ourselves so fiercely that when others se us
they will know exactly how it should be done.

Believe in yourself and you will be unstoppable
and if you have to ask yourself , "will it be easy?"
NOPE, "worth it?" ABSOLUTELY, and you will
make mistakes but just don't let the mistakes
make you.

Stay positive, work hard, and make it happen
and work on yourself for yourself and learn
to trust the journey, even if you don't
understand it, just be happy and smile, it
drives everybody crazy.                                Jon York   2017

Not everything
             is  suppose  to  become
                         something  
                beautiful  and  long
                            lasting.

                 Sometimes people
                        come  into  
             your  life  to   show you
                      what is right
         and what  is wrong. To show  
                     you  who  you  
                           can  be,
                 to teach you to love
                          yourself,
                 and to  make you feel
            better  for  a little  while.

                                Not
                    everyone is going
        to  stay  forever  but  you  just
               have to keep on going,
                      thanking them
            for whatever it is that they
                           gave you
                and when  you  finally
          get  tired  of  trying,  just leave.
                         No fight, no
            argument, and sometimes
                        not  even  a
                          goodbye.
                                                                               Jon York   2019

If   you  can  still   walk

then we're not finished.
                                                                                         Jon York   2019

My heart is
                   waiting  for   you,
         beating so silently, I  thought  it
                      had met its end.
               When  you  found  me,
     my heart found thunder  once  again.
                            I live, and
            I love again, because of you.
                 True love cannot be
             defined  by  any   means.
           It's  a  cluster  of  adjectives;  
               It's crazy, passionate,
         complicated, painful - but most
                       importantly,
              true  love  is  real. It is
                     that feeling of
        being inexplicably drawn to
                     another person.
          Love  isn't  about  finding
                  someone you can
                       escape with.
        It's about finding someone
   who   makes  reality  worthwhile.
                 I crave all of you,
      even the dark and dusty corners
that   you   keep  safely   hidden  away.
              I love you. And maybe
that is enough, or maybe it never will be.
            But understand that it
   doesn't matter. I love you for what
             you are . Not  for  what
                 you can give back.                                       Jon York   2019

Nothing
  changes
       if
   nothing
   changes.
                                                                                         Jon York   2019

Nothing is
as  painful
as   staying
stuck
somewhere
you don't
belong.
                                                                                       Jon York     2019

Where do the years go ?
They just go by so fast,
nothing seems to last.

High School, the best years
of your life it seems and
after that they just fly by
in what seems like a flash.
When you are young you
don't look back because
you have no past.

You go to War a boy and
come home a man and
everything has changed.
You are not the same and
you never will be.

You wake up one day,
you have kids and can't
believe they are grown,
you wonder how did
it happen so fast. Now
you have a past and want
what is happening to last.

Nothing lasts you soon discover,
except the love that you have
carried with you for your
parents and others.

Your parents fade away,
a loss you
never thought you would
have to face. You try to put it
out of your mind at all costs,
but when the time comes you
just carry on knowing it was
a necessary loss.

Grandkids appear and you realize
that you are old and wonder
why you were never told that
it would be like this.

You can't stop the years or
the flow of tears as the years
come at you so fast, and then
you realize that it is the same
for everybody, nothing lasts.

You look around and see that
everybody has gotten older,
your kids have kids and you
are a grandfather.

You can't help but wonder,
how did the years get by you
so fast, then you remember
what your mom said, "nothing lasts".
                                                   Jon York

Missing you comes in waves.
Tonight  I am  drowning.

I love it when I check my phone
and your name with a picture of
you  in  your bathtub shows  up
and I love how your text message
says  to me "I  love  your  poetry,
never stop writing."

I love the feelings I get when I
look at my photographs of you.
One  of  your  hugs  would  be
good right now.

I crave you in the most innocent
form. I  crave to say "goodnight"
and kiss you on the forehead and
say "I adore you" when you feel
at you worst.

I crave you  in  ways where I  just
want to be next to you and nothing
more or less.
                                                                                             Jon York   2024

I take my time
when I travel from the top
to the bottom of you,
my mouth strolling leisurely
from hilltops to valleys.
Nothing on the way
will be left unexplored.
                                                                                            Jon York   2019

Life is a series of thousands of tiny miracles.
NOTICE THEM. You  are  the greatest  project  
you  will  ever  work  on.

You  do  NOT  decide  your  FUTURE.  You
decide  your  HABITS  and  your  HABITS
decide your FUTURE.  

LIVE, DON'T JUST SURVIVE.

Strength comes NOT  from  what you  can  do,
but overcoming what you couldn't.  The grind
doesn't stop. You only fail when you stop trying.

Your  future  depends  on  your  FOCUS.  You get
what you work for. not what you wish for. The
storms will make you a  skilled sailor.  You will
either evolve or dissolve.

You were born to be real, not perfect.                                
                                                                                            Jon York  2023

If you judge people
you have no time to
love them.
                                                                                     Jon York   2019

Take my clothes off one piece at a time.
Start where you wish, but do not stop
until there is nothing but ache between
us. It is amazing how manageable life
can be with only  one blanket  and  the
right two arms.

Why ever you wandered into this little
life of mine, how ever you found me, it
matters  not. Forget the way you  came,
I never want you to go back again and I
think it was the feeling of you that  told  
me  you  were  it.

Because I've felt many things in my life,
and  somehow, no  matter how great,  I
knew I could live without it.  Until I felt
you. There was something inside of me
that wouldn't let go. Not  just the feel of
you, but  the feel  I  had of myself.

I  promise  you I will  try harder  to  do
better. I have battled with things inside  
of  me  for longer  than  you know; I do
not  know  what  they  are or  why they
are  there, I  only  know  that  they  feel
manageable, and can be defeated when
I am around you.

In a house where the world is dark. love
will always find a way to create windows
and I  just  hope  it  is  freedom  you  feel,
when loving  me. I  just hope  it  is  home
you find.
                                                           ­                                Jon York 2019

Learn to use your
emotions to think,
   not think with
  your emotions.
                                                                                              Jon York   2019

Everything changes in an instant.

Not sure if I need ***, sleep, or to
punch someone in the face.

I  have  to be stronger  than  my excuses
and I have to hold myself accountable,
stay committed and never give  up.

I  have  to start with who I am,  use
what I  have, and do what I  can.

The man who is a master of patience
is master of everything else.

I must find the fighter in myself and
realize the fact that if I'm not where
I want to be, that should be enough
motivation.

A wise man once said nothing.

I must make a conscious effort to hear
no  ****, to speak no  ****, and to  take
no ****. Life is what you make of it,
not what you think of it.
                                                                                             Jon York   2024

We
   mature
  with the
   damage.



                             Not
                        with the
                            years.
                                                                                            Jon York   2019

I have promises to keep
and many miles to go
before I can sleep and I take pride
in how far I have come
without coming totally undone
from events and people
that no human should ever
have to face but I am finally free
of those poor choices
and bad places and know
that I am not yet done
and that I have found
the sun.

We lead such fragile lives
and I have to remind myself
that nothing is too good to be true
and my hopes can be realized
and my most wonderful dreams
can and will come true
and that there really is
no more need to be blue
because she knows
just what to do.

There is still so much to see
and so much to do
before I am done but our time
runs short and I know
that I have been blessed
beyond belief and she
comes to me with great relief
causing me to realize that
I am not yet done
and that together we will
see that sun.
and along the way
have some fun.                Jon York                  2012

Real men
  make your
  ******* wet,
   not your
      eyes.              
                                                                ­                      Jon York    2019

It never stopped as they came at us day and night and they knew every move we made because the surrounding jungles were filled with them and as we thought we were hunting them, in reality we were the ones hunted and as they watched us set up for the night, the enemy would try to fulfill a single purpose: to **** me and my fellow Marines that made up the deadliest Marine combat unit operating in the ASHAU Valley (Valley of Death) at that time in 1969.

Arriving in Vietnam I discovered that it was very different than the nightly news reports that I watched from my Hotel room in Alaska and that the American public watched safely at night in their homes, and strange as it may seem I remember watching Marines walking through the rice paddies while the announcer was announcing the number of KIA's and I was thinking, maybe that's where I should be. Be careful what you think!!

Nothing could have prepared me ( a 20 year old "hippie"drafted and taken off the streets of the 60's ) for what I was about to face and what I was about to have to do in order to make it home on my feet and not in a body bag.

Trained to be a 20 year old killing machine by the United States Marine Corps, I did what I had to do to arrive home on my own two feet but it
would change my life forever and I didn't know it until 40 years later.

The adrenaline rush that came after each ****, and the more kills you recorded the more you got off and the more power you had and the
more you wanted to **** some more and it became an addiction and this
was suddenly gone when I got home and I reacted by covering my fear
with humor but 40 years after I knew something was terribly wrong with
me as I listened to reports of 22 Veterans a day, 24/7 committing suicide and at first I didn't understand why until one day I was thinking about different ways to die.

The physical pain had set in along with mental scars that would not go away as I thought about Vietnam every day as I began entertaining ways to die to get off this miserable train of thought and all the VA would do is to give me a PTSD disability pension and prescribe pills for the pain and during all those years it became clear that I was going nowhere and had become invisible to the world so why should I not go ahead and do the same as those 22 a day.

2017 and I am still here but I still think about Vietnam every day but I choose to write to keep my mind away from those days in the jungles shooting anyone I saw and these days I write for those 22 a day that can no longer deal with what they had to do and crossed that fine line between life and suicide that is so very close for me but for some reason I stand tall and am proud of my service to my country and feel sorry for those who will never know the depth of a Veterans pride and if I am still alive when you read this poem it is because someone drove home the fact that they actually cared whether I lived or died and that they actually appreciated what I did so many years ago in that far away jungle but that place is still on my mind every day and probably will be until the day I die and that is all I have to say on this Memorial Day.
                                                                                   Jon York  2017
                                                                                    Kilo 3/5
                                                                                 Vietnam  69- 70

Wish you
were here
next to me.
Naked of course.
                                                                                                 Jon York  2019

If  you  can't  take  a   joke....



                             get the ******* the internet.
                                                                                               Jon York   2019

How awkward
the situation
in retrospect,
how imperfect
the setting.

An act,
an intimate
thing
cut off.

whose
memory
refused to fade.

After
so many years
why does this
fractured
incomplete
thing still
occupy
the choicest
of place of
my thoughts?                                                                   Jon York   2021

A strong                 You can't always wait for            The way I love is
relationship                   the perfect time.                           relentless. It
starts with                   Sometimes, you                            breaks my
two people                    have to dare                             concentration
who are ready             to do it because                       when I am busy
to sacrifice                   life is too short                           and drifts my
anything for               to wonder what                           mind away to
each other.                  could have been.                      thoughts of you
                                                             ­                           when I am in the
                                                             ­                                middle of
                                             I want to                       conversations. Like
No relationship                  wake up                       a desperate needy
is all sunshine,                   at 2:00 am,                          child it pokes
but two people                    roll over,                              and prods
can share one                   see your face                          tirelessly for
    umbrella                         and know                             my attention,
and survive                     that I'm right                               and in
   the storm                         where I'm                           the end always
     together.                         supposed                                  gets it.
                                                  to be.

     Love is when you
    sit beside someone           You don't always               Dear Ladies:
       doing nothing                   need a plan.                you should never
         yet you feel                   Sometimes you                      need to
      perfectly happy.                 just need to                 to prove to other
                                                  breathe, trust,                women that he's
     The less                               let go, and see              in love with you.
     you talk                                what happens.                That's his job.
     the more
      people                                Ask yourself        
   think about                           if what you                   Don't fall in love
   your words.                       are doing today                 with someone
                                                 is getting you                who always says
                                                closer to where                the right things.
                                                  you want to                       Fall in love
                                                be tomorrow.                   with someone
                                                         ­                                     who always
       Jon York     2018                                                             ­     does
                                                                ­                          the right things.

once I knew. . .
wonderful nights in the month of June,
a breeze softly blowing, a tender moon,
the perfume of roses sweet in the air,
the stillness of your beauty
so perfect so rare.

long drives with you
beneath starlet skies
as I drank deeply and eagerly
of the love in your eyes
whispering tender words
vowing you were mine.

but now. . .
I find the loneliness of nights
filled with dreams of you
and I, wonder, always wondering
if you miss me too
and I wonder if something
about the moon each night
brings me worries poignant
and a teardrop bright.

I played the game
and I staked my heart and lost
but the game wasn't fair
with convention the cost
and you did what you thought
was right.

I knew it and yet
my heart broke
and it seems
I never forget.

Would we be parted know...
had things not been so
or did you really love me,
I'll never know.     Jon York       2013

Once upon a
  remember,
there was a
home on my
   lips, where
    your kiss
       lived.
   and I know
       you're
coming home
        again
         soon.
                                                                                       Jon York   2019

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

One day I'll remember. . .
the poetry I wrote when my heart was broken
and how those feelings inspired
so many poems with words of lost loves
and I'll remember meeting a new love
and how we touched and how
it meant so much.

how you touched me that first day we met
and how you inspired words from my heart
as we both were hoping
that we could start something
that would never end
and I'll never forget the words that we spoke
under a full moon and stars
and the way you smiled when I spoke
of giving us hope for
the coming years together.

And I could never forget
the way that you held on to me
as we slept and pieces of you
will always be beside me engraved
into my mind carefully
etched by time.

I'll remember how your love
was like a fire that was sparked quickly
and burned with intense heat
but burned out so quickly
and my soul was lost in the flame
leaving me never the same.

And I can't forget how my soul
tried to bring harmony and order
out of chaos as it attempted to
introduce meaning and affect
where there was none as it gave me
highs and lows to a landscape
that was previously flat.

And I'll remember looking at the words
that I wrote as they came to paper
and realizing that I am not my pain
and I am not my past
but I discovered my soul
by writing those words that were
just trying to fill
a great big hole.

Only a powerful soul can offer love
and be humble and these words helped me
to discover this and let me realize
that any time not spent on love
is wasted.                                         Jon  York        2013

It doesn't interest me what you
do for a living but I do want to
know what you ache for and if
you dare to dream of meeting
your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old
you are but I  do want to know
if  you will risk looking like a
fool for love, for your dream, for
the adventure of being alive.

I want to know if you can be
with joy, mine or your own and
if you can dance with wildness
and let ecstasy fill you to the tips
of your fingers and toes without
cautioning us to be careful, be
realistic, to remember the
limitations of being human.

I seek this thing though I don't
know what it might be, so I spend
my time searching for that one
missing piece and perhaps one
day you will come to me and
bring with you that quiet peace.
                                     Jon York     2017

It's been awhile
since I've been able to smile
and hold my head up high
and there is really no
reason why.

I have been
given a mind to discover
and talent to create
but I am always just
a day late.

I spend so much time
wondering why I just can't relate
to so much going on out there
in a world of hate, lies,
and little trust and of course
those great big egos.

The world that I create
around myself is filled with
love, truth, honesty, and kindness
yet this is a world
no one chooses to see
around me because
of what I used
to be.

Almost as if I wasn't real
yet others always
seem to be looking for
something
to steal.

There are countless
paths of knowledge and many
ways to give
but only I can live the life
that I really want
to live.

Get rid of my pain
I tell myself
this pain from losing people
and things that
I thought were here
to stay but seemed
to go astray.

I give love at the risk
that it will not be returned
and when it isn't I wonder
if I am giving too much love
or not enough
but the pain still comes
just as surely as
the rain.

I try to free myself
from the wasted past of things
and loves that were
never meant to last
and I try to never feel guilty
because I didn't live up
to another's expectations
or because I didn't meet
another's standards.

One of these days I hope
that I will be able to finally see
all of what has been going on
right in front of me
so that I can be
set free.

But for now
I just allow the words to flow
and I watch where they go
hoping that they might
catch someone's eye
and be read before
I am dead.                                                       Jon York                2012

Making her feel
      like you
  want her badly
    is one of the
        sexiest,
   most flattering
   things you can
      do for her.
                                                                                      Jon York   2019

One look at her and my thoughts could write a book
One kind word can go a long way
One instant can be an eternity
One smile can make a friend forever
One memory can last forever
One lie can break a heart
One word can touch a heart
One mean word can break a heart
One false move can spell doom
One kind gesture can make a friend forever
One voice can speak wisdom
One touch can show that you care
One touch can be felt forever
One step can start a journey
One negative reaction can build a wall
One "I love you" can bring down that wall
One ugly thought can bring disaster
One ugly thought can make for a long drought
One tear sometimes we try to hide
One rose can wake a dream
One poem can melt the heart
One look from a puppy dogs eyes says he wants to be your friend
One poem can make you feel that you are not alone
One word sometimes needs to be heard  
                                                         ­              Jon York           2012

Her  hips  moved like  waves  on the ocean,
undulating wildly as I plunged
        deep into her waters.
    She was  sweet,  wet, and refreshing.
        I  gasped for  air as I drowned
             in  her  high  seas.
                                            ­                                             Jon York   2019

The only way
                  to live is
           to  accept  each
             minute as an
      unrepeatable miracle,
           which is exactly
      what  it  is -- a  miracle
         and unrepeatable
                 and know
   sometimes it's good to pause
             in our pursuit of
        happiness and  just  be
                    happy
             and remember,
     one thought driven home
              is better than
           three left on base.

        The human body was  
             wisely designed
       so  that we can neither
   pat  our  own  back  nor kick
         ourselves too easily
  and  remember  that  no one
          lives in perfection
     and  tomorrow  is  a  new
           untarnished day,
              and you can
         be hurt only if you
                  care a lot.
                                                            ­                      Jon York   2019

All  the  words and thoughts
behind my words come from
a  place of love as I  travel the
roads in the memory of this poet.

Walking the streets of this poets
memory I come to a meeting place.

Where the river mirrors the sky
in glassy completion, where the
earth gives way to water, where
two souls surrender to their smallness.

A fleeting moment in a temporary
existence, this moment is met, again
and again in places that transcend time.

We were together for such a short
time but in my mind she will be for
a lifetime.

I have to wonder why? It seems only
the blink of an eye and she was gone.
                                                           ­                                   Jon York  2024

I want to be
your sunrise at dawn,
and your reason to smile.
I  want  your   heart
to  only  want  mine.
                                                                                                Jon York  2019

"Life is beautiful so let us
admire it and realize our
dreams as our journey begins
and let us go confidently
in that direction so it seems
and know my black haired beauty
that it is only you that will do.

I can feel your presence and
I can feel your touch and as
I close my eyes to the darkness
I can feel your heart beating
next to mine as you wrap
your body around me one
more time.

Where do we go from here
and is what we have something
that we can hold to be dear
as we both know  that our
happiness is up to us and
even if we run, walk, stumble,
drive or fly, we can never
lose sight of the reasons for
our journey and the rainbows
that we might see along
the way.

For as long as you love me
I will love only you and
as long as forever my love
will be true because where
there is love there is only you
and always  remember
that from mornings first light
to evenings last star how
special you really are.

You found me when my life
was way off track and you
took my hand and guided
me back by taking my heart
and giving both of us a new
start and we did this by not
gazing at each other but in
looking in the same direction
and if I now know what love
is, it is because of you.              
                                           Jon York                   2013