The World's Greatest Tricycle Rider

Photo Credit: freerepublic.com

The world’s greatest tricycle rider 

is in my heart, riding like a wildman, 

no hands, almost upside down, along 

the walls and over the high curbs 

and stoops, his bell rapid-firing, 

the sun spinning in his spokes like a flame. 

But he is growing older. 

His feet overshoot the pedals. 

His teeth set too hard against the jolts, 

and I am afraid that what I’ve kept from him is what 

tightens his fingers on the rubber grips 

and drives him again and again on the same block.

by c.k. williams
The New Yorker
April 2, 1966

x