My father stopped at every one of them,
A need to know that drove us nuts and slowed
Our progress toward the lake. We stood in sweat,
Lurking like hitchers by the asphalt road.
The Battle of the Washita; the birth
Place of Will Rogers; any church or shoot-
Out that one might say mattered stopped us cold
Beside the crumbling shoulder of old Route
66. So I’d drag my teenage self
Out of the car to nudge the shoulder rocks
With white-toed Converse tips and stand there half
Enthused while trying to look bored. Those talks
About the past beside the highway strip
Are past now too, my father gone, the darker
Years since a road I drive as it gets late,
Squinting into the dusk to find a marker.
—Benjamin Myers
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.
