Joy Is To You Boston For Against Terror You Have Won

If we lose the War on Terror it will not be on the field of battle but in the fields of our minds, retreating into the bunkers of isolation and withdrawal, too fearful of terror that we are afraid to leave our houses. The bombings last year at the Boston Marathon were a horrific, cowardly act for which the surviving accused will soon stand trial. This year, more spectators watched and more competitors raced as Boston Strong prevailed  against the forces of the night.
      In addition to not isolating we should be proud of the fact that the men's winner was an American who fled to this country at the early age of 12 to escape civil war in his native Eritrea and became a naturalized citizen. What is even more like a script out of "It's a Good Life" is that the fact that the names of the

four killed by such cowardly attack were on the Meb Keflezighi's bib. One triumphal, symbolic victory of a city's and nation's resolve does not a final victory make, but it is a great start. Boston Strong is worth at least a one million drones eager to send the latest jihadist to his own personal paradise.
Joy Is To You For You Have Won

After 26 miles a runner staggered into Athens’ streets

Bringing news of a great Persian defeat

“Joy is to you for you have won”

His last words from his heart and body done

Marathons are not for the faint of heart, a very special race

A toil upon the body, no matter the training, no matter how slow the pace  

Hyperthermia, dehydration, blisters, chaffing, muscles reduced to stagger and crawl

Suddenly without warning a runner slams into the Wall

But danger and death normally due only to runner versus a Marathon’s deadly effects

Never until last year would a runner need Kevlar for shrapnel to deflect

Two pressure cooker bombs planted near the Boston Marathon finish line

Exploding to kill and maim as part of sick jihadist minds.

One brother caught and killed the other to stand trial

In this nation even the most cowardly and depraved, spouting the most vicious bile

Must be convicted by a jury with the people bearing the burden to prove

Before we can from society or the living a jihadist remove

But the jury of Boston Strong has already weighed in

Stark messages that terror against us will never win

Boston did not lock its doors, pull down its drapes and hide quaking in terror’s icy, uncaring grip

No not the way Boston Strong and this nation works, in a struggle against terror, we will never quit

Pheidippes had no spectators 2500 years ago to watch him race

Over a million lined the streets to cheer the runners in their paces

Runners from all over the world and this nation without hesitation appeared

Including 5,000 who could not finish before the bombs went off and who should have fear

Including one male, an American who fled turmoil in his land to migrate to this nation

Proving despite all our “faults” we are the magnet for a never ending stream of immigration

Who almost witnessed the blasts and due to injury last year could not compete

And who this year of all the men, had lasting stamina and the fastest feet

You may run the Marathon alone, but as a Christian, God may run along your side

Even more so when Martin, Lingzi, Krystle, and Sean were on your bib for the ride

A terrorist attack on this soil is really an attack on all members of the human race

The new pirates, they have no standing to remain on the blackboard of life, they must be erased

Pheidippes had it right “Joy is to you Boston for you have won”

Boston Strong will prevail against the jihadists who our retribution cannot ever outrun

© April 26, 2014 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet