That the world should end in an orgy of pain
was inconceivable at my conception in the Panama Canal Zone
where the hydraulic locks were emblems of the unity of oceans.
But the hydraulic harmony was striated with tropical
diseases and now cancer where was torrid procreation;
day and night a St. Vitus dance of pain’s mummers.
Nothing will do but to battle brainless hurt,
stand up in the field of forked lightning striking blindly,
outfacing the outrage of inexorable vulgarity.
There must be no victory for the base and common in the inevitable
but an enraged wild beast’s growl of contempt
for the enemy of what is eternal in one’s dreaming.
—Anthony Kerrigan
You have a decision to make: double or nothing.
For this week only, a generous supporter has offered to fully match all new and increased donations to First Things up to $60,000.
In other words, your gift of $50 unlocks $100 for First Things, your gift of $100 unlocks $200, and so on, up to a total of $120,000. But if you don’t give, nothing.
So what will it be, dear reader: double, or nothing?
Make your year-end gift go twice as far for First Things by giving now.
