Sun’s bliss, leaf shadows, a honeyed breeze
The world as he would have it be for you,
Your faithful, humble, and obedient servant,
One who has no other goddess before you.
The Name, the Guest, the Beloved are all one,
And he, vouchsafed that vision once, bows down before you.
The blessings of friends, the gratitude of children,
The work of your hands a table spread before you.
A fantasy he blushes to mention: the desire
To rearrange time since and time before you.
Another not so foolish he’ll wait for you
When he reaches that riverbank, as he supposes, before you.
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.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Does Evangelicalism Exist?
The controversial publication, withdrawal, and then republication by Christianity Today of an article suggesting Elisabeth Elliot was…
The Myth of St. Francis
At the beginning of his 2020 encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis speaks of “an episode in the…
Job and Her
It is said that Job lost everything, but she has lost more. All her possessions—the money, the…
