A zone of promise throbs along
the horizon where May meets June.
Sweet leaf or sap smells: conversations
renewed between trees now
so graceful in their drapery of green
you’d never guess how lately they have taken
it from winter storage and have shaken
it out and put it on.
A similar illusion
persuades me that the park has always been
luxuriant and feathery as now.
Children have always caromed to and fro.
River and sky were always steeped in just this glow.
There was never snow.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
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