The American poet Linda Pastan published "To a Daughter Leaving Home" in her 1998 collection Carnival Evening. The poem is addressed to the speaker's daughter and recounts a memory in which the speaker teaches the daughter how to ride a bike. At first, the daughter tries to find her balance while the speaker remains by her side. Soon enough, though, the daughter zooms away, terrifying the speaker in the process. The speaker quickly sees how happy and thrilled the daughter is to be riding a bike on her own, however, and in this way the poem spotlights both the anxieties and joys of parenthood
