The+Rider

= **The rider** =
 * Naomi Shihab Nye 1998**

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.