Figurative Language In The Rider

In “The Rider,” author Naomi Shihab Nye uses figurative language to allow readers to easily and concretely envision the both feelings of loneliness and of contentment. In the poem, a boy has told the narrator that the reason he roller-skates so fast is because he is trying to escape from his sense of loneliness. This is what the speaker is thinking about as they bicycle down the street, and it is also what they are wishing for:
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. (9-13)
The narrator is expressing how much they long to never feel lonely again, how much they wish to simply