you have no idea what my journey is all about
so don't compare my life to others' because
sometimes life isn't fair but it is still good
so realize that life is too short to waste time
hating anyone and make peace with your past
so it won't ***** up your present and know
that everything changes in the blink of an eye
so get busy living and know that mistakes
are just lessons of wisdom because
the past cannot be changed and the future
is yet in your power.

I wanted to be a writer whose words touched
and changed those who read me
and I write and many read what I write
as they just try to get it right and sometimes
I might over prepare but mostly I just go with
the flow of words that come to me
from the inspiration that I get from those
who surround me but no one is in charge
of my happiness except me.

In all of my life-changing situations
I have chosen life when it would have been
much easier to go the other way
but I have forgiven everyone everything
and given time time and however
good or bad something was
I knew that it would change
and that I would be loved not because
of anything I did or didn't do and I  finally
realized that growing old beats the alternative
of dying young while realizing that miracles
are waiting everywhere so I show up and try
to make the most of life.

All that truly matters in the end
is that you are loved and I know that the best
is yet to come realizing that life
isn't tied with a bow
but it is still a gift.

An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way
and I as a poet/artist say hard things in a simple way
knowing that it will all be over much too soon
and sometimes I am impatient and sometimes a little insecure
and sometimes I make mistakes but if you
can't handle my worst then you
don't deserve my best.            Jon  York         2013