To age is but to respect gravity,
movement that is denial given up
in the fashion of prayer: on one’s knees
and thankful perhaps to finally pause.
Even the cockroach, large and hard-backed, slows
as if to attract the descending heel,
letting perpetual generation
care for itself in the shadowy corner.
The arthritic cypress has no age,
never having been young, its gnarled grip
sufficient, and its fall unwitnessed,
the swamp collecting all of its debts.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
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