The woman said to him
“You’re running for my son.”
Terry said, “Where is he?”
And the woman said
“He died last week.”
When I count myself unlucky with fortune
I remember Terry
Thirteen years I have on him
But a lifetime he has on me
When vodka is my only friend putting me to sleep
Chemo was keeping him in agony
They said he ran from demons
But I think he chased them away
Because demons keep us in fear
I know, because I live with them every day
I ride my bike to run them over
I hike alongside a stream to flush them away
When I feel alone they join me
And take me away from my friends and from my God
And I think Terry ran to chase them away
He saw kids dying of cancer and was haunted by this image
I see myself dying as a kid and I’m trapped
I’m shackled by a past that doesn’t exist
And I run back to it
And the demons scare away who I love most
Terry is who I wish to be
Because he never stopped running
He never stopped chasing away those demons
He couldn’t run away from cancer
But he could run to it
And square it up face-to-face
And punch it every day
26 miles worth of fists, and only one leg
A marathon of hope for the child with none
I want to be like Terry
Depression is my cancer
And I’d like to run right through it
And catch every scared kid running the same lonely road
Pull him out of the dark
And save him before his best friends are demons
Because then he will have to catch Terry alone
Which is what I do today
As I run for my life back
No one should have to run alone
Terry ran alone for us
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