The poem Bicycle presents a bicycle as a beautiful and mysterious machine. It also expresses the fear, danger and uncertainty connected with modern mechanical life.
A bicycle has been kept in the bare living room of the poet’s flat. As it has come from outside and does not naturally belong to the room, the poet calls it a “stranger from the streets” and a “light-limbed traveller.” Its thin spokes resemble pine needles, its rims shine brightly and the downward curve of its handlebars looks like polished horns. These features make it appear like a forest god or a god of highways and the sky hiding inside a machine.
The bicycle appears restless beside the other objects in the room—the bookcase and two chairs. Its horizontal structure suggests distance, movement and travelling light. In contrast, the mirror remains calm and undisturbed. It holds a “storm of light” and accepts everything that passes before it without any reaction.
The poet describes the bicycle through a series of imaginative comparisons. It is a “tall metallic insect” because of its slender frame and spoked wheels. It is also called a “horizontal angel of green,” suggesting its beauty, lightness and almost divine appearance. The poet is both attracted to and frightened by its “savage iridescence.”
The poet wonders what he can offer the bicycle. He imagines presenting it with grease drops that look like miraculous resin, a blue mist of stars and a saucer of cold sweat. These offerings resemble gifts made to a god. However, he immediately calls them absurd because a machine does not need religious offerings.
Towards the end, time seems to awaken, and its “messengers” appear. They are bicycles and their riders coming through the dusk. They look like huge wingless stick insects with wheels shining like stars. The poet imagines the shock wave of a collision already lifting the riders’ hair. This creates an atmosphere of fear and approaching danger.
The riders carry the future “sealed at their lips like urgent telegrams.” This means that the future is moving rapidly towards human beings but remains unknown and unreadable. Modern machines promise speed and freedom, but they also bring accidents, anxiety and uncertainty.
Thus, the bicycle has two contrasting aspects. It is graceful, colourful and almost divine, but it is also savage, threatening and dangerous. Through rich metaphors and striking visual images, David Malouf shows both human fascination with machines and the insecurity created by excessive dependence on them.]