(Editors Note: In memory of Tom Kenny, a member of the New Hyde Park Runners Club, who passed away after a valiant battle with cancer, Stephen Cipot has written the following poem:)

You are the runner.

Moving out of range;

past the onlooker.

Hurrying like a crack of lightning,

like a gust of wind

blowing past us all the way to the summit

at the end of the road.

You are the runner.

Who preferred the long way,

the arduous,

not the ambiguous or easy;

an exaltation that awaits

like a memory cherished.

You are the runner.

Delving into depths,

for happiness,

to set the example.

You brought us the greatest pearls.

And like a king

you led a dominion

on their feet

going everywhere.

You are the runner.

Who plucked me out of the loadstones,

and when I was lost

you found me in my fiery blood,

because your heartbeats were always your own;

the earthly doorways

through which we followed

like children.

You are the runner.

Touching our hands

no less than you were touching our spirits

and what summons the strength of dreams,

the songs of the heart,

to awaken and widen our eyes

to rise to the corona;

bringing us the words and love

that blossomed

your life.

Even the dust of our hearts bloom

like seeds,

the shape through which our lives whirl.

For you ARE the runner.

Time after time

you made the sprint that showed us the way,

the vocation that is infinite,

always beginning.