The Rider

By Naomi Shihab Nye

A boy told me

if he roller-skated fast enough

his loneliness couldn't catch up to him,

the best reason I ever heard

for trying to be a champion.

What I wonder tonight

pedaling hard down King William Street

is if it translates to bicycles.

A victory! To leave your loneliness

panting behind you on some street corner

while you float free into a cloud of sudden azaleas,

pink petals that have never felt loneliness,

no matter how slowly they fell.

Reasons I'm jealous of this poem:

-the title

-the whole message

-the line 'his loneliness couldn't catch up to him'

-how the author wonders if this concept also works with bicycles

-the wording

-how smooth and swift practically, how it is phrased

-I wish I could write something amazing like this

-It's so simple I think 'why didn't I do that?'

-'to leave your loneliness panting behind you on some street corner'

-I'm jealous of this poem

-It's a fact.

-Alec Hardison