The peak that paints the lake
Is quick to break.
A height becomes a depth,
A life a death.
An Eiger sinks beneath
The eager cleat
As seeking shows us what
We sought is not.
To find a seeker’s pleasure
In self-erasure
The mountaineer must wish
Herself to mist.
—Amit Majmudar
Photo by thijser via Creative Commons.
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.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
A Culture of Parricide
I learned a new word the other day: déploration. It’s the French, directly from the Latin, for “lament.”…
The Chariot Burials
Wheeling through the clotted earth, / Bronze, bone, and leather clumped in clay...
William of St. Thierry
“Where love and understanding join, hearts are tranquil, / They rise above the turmoil of this world…
