Here she is again, old Worm-beak,
Breast the color of a mud lake,
Perched on a post of the rail fence,
An eye of shining insolence.
Frowzy, windblown, she whistles twice
Some notes retrieved from Paradise,
Swoops and spears the lawn and is gone
Into the cherry’s greening crown.
Books for Christmas—2025
Surveys indicate that reading books is dropping precipitously across all age groups. This is a tragedy in…
What We’ve Been Reading—Autumn 2025
First Things staff share their most recent autumn reading recommendations.
Walker Percy’s Pilgrimage
People can get used to most anything. Even the abyss may be rendered tolerable—or, for that matter,…