Incantation

The carapace of each
past day: undo.
Let the scales fall
and if remote and small
still make my vision new.
Hieroglyphic shapes
of mystification:
you may go.Autumnal mood
soggy with desolation:
turn your head
and glimpse the old decade
unreeling like a silver
ribbon, like a river
running, new
and new.

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.

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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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