I am blind and burnt.
An old man taught me home’s forgetting,
murderous seducer left me lost,
took the last path I knew
drained past parents piety.
I watched him mix them with hemlock
saying follow me as his legs went cold.
Some strange immortality closed his eyes
as he gave my hopes to Hades.
More than all I loved him, I loved
his insistent dying, his selfish folly
his lips when they swayed me to his side.
But I am dying unkissed in darkness
worse than Lethe he called truth—
I would settle now
for a flash of Aegean sun.
—Samuel Loncar
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.
