Run Poem by Smoky Hoss

-Geronimo ran, and ran, and ran...
And still got stuck
On worthless land;
He and his people were looking for the right side,
- though it was such a long run to go,
He tried and tried,
Along with so many others whom we shall never know...
Yet it seems, when all is said and done
They made it no closer
Than where they'd first begun.

-Jim Thorpe ran, and ran, and ran...
He ran out of desperation,
He had to run
Just to get off from the damned reservation;
He ran and ran
Faster and better than anyone ever had
And for some rancid reason
It made some people mad...
He had run all he could
But it just wasn't enough...
Even as strong as Jim was
Life was just too tough.

- Ira Hayes ran, and ran, and ran...
But could never quite outrun
Societies demand;
Some arrogant folks claim
It showed him to be a worthless man...
But they were wrong.
For what it really proved is:
He tried much harder than they will EVER understand.

These native men found
What we all eventually will,
That life is no game, whether in obscurity or fame,
And we're all tripping barefoot... running uphill;

At birth we are thrown together into the room of life
Where they discovered what most attempt to ignore,
In our own way we try to make the best of it
Until God alone shows the exit door.

So we've all need side by side this race to run
Though exactly how it will finish, we yet know not,
For in the human race the only way to lose
Is to stop.