With our cameras and crumpled clothes
we wait for the bus. We rush to each
“beauty spot” through narrow streets,
observing signs whose alphabet we fail
to comprehend.
Pretty girls are scattered like rain.
We pass students on bikes, old people
stooped over bundles. The new “good life”
of Japan smiles at us from Coke posters
on rundown store fronts. Dingy flats
and factories crowd the roads, relieved
briefly by ragged patches of green and graceful shrines.
Although he tries to make things clear,
the guide is mechanical and tired.
The bus windows are splattered with
rain and each of us is deep in murky water.
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.
