Run Terry, Run Poem by Lone Dog

(A tribute to the courage and determination of Terry Fox)


Run Terry, run! Run Terry, run! –
Down the lone highway `til the long trek is done.
Drag that leg onward. Pain, you endure.
Drag that leg onward to find cancer’s cure.

Run for the cause, not for glory or fame.
Run for an end to all cancer-caused pain.
Run Terry, run! Run for the cure.
Run for a miracle. Make one occur.

Run down the long highway, around Georgian Bay,
Then on to the Lakehead - two thirds of the way.
This trek you’re attempting is no easy task -
A marathon each day! We just pray you can last.

But hope turns to fear as you fall very ill.
The cheers now subside. We stand silent; dead still.
There’s pain in your chest and it’s not from a cold.
Your cancer’s returned with its life-ending hold.

Now, no crowds line the roadways. The cancer has won.
It has claimed our young hero whose trek wasn’t done.
He was trying to prove himself worthy of life,
And has shamed us all by his own sacrifice.

So, we’ve picked up the torch across the world wide
And now run for the cause. But, close by our side,
We sense there’s a ‘presence’, a telling ‘odd gait’
And we know it’s our hero, our Canadian great.

So, run Terry, run! Run for the cure.
With you by our side we will find it for sure.