Ellis Island

Give us your poor, your tired, your balding.

Give us your middle aged mid-life crisis.

Give us your weekend warriors, your armchair athletes, your wannabes.

Give us your overweight, your out-of-breath, your future bypass recipients.

And we will destroy them.

We will make your heart pound, your legs ache, your lungs bleed.

We’ll make your lunch rise up in your throat.

We’ll make your vision blur and your head spin as the sweat pours off you in sheets.

We will make you wish you never bought a bike.

And when we are done, you’ll still be middle aged, overweight, and balding.

But there for a few seconds you were Superman.