Polutropos

Sing, O Muse, of the man of many reverses,
the man with a mind of many winding ways,
turned around and turned away from home
there on the open labyrinthine sea,
of the man of many dodges, the windspun
weathervane of a wanderer, navigator
forever divagating, of the man with a mind
ingeniously devious, the man of many evasions,
the man who endured so many turnabouts,
whose route home was all diversions, switchbacks,
setbacks, backhanded by the winds,
of the multifarious seafarer,
the wayfinder lost on many detours,
O Muse of many tropes, sing.

—Amit Majmudar

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.

GIVE NOW

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.

Next
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Why the Death Penalty Is a Sore Point for Papal Authority

Joseph Shaw

Pope Leo XIV marked World Day Against the Death Penalty, observed on October 10, with the following…

The Myth of St. Francis

Gabriel Said Reynolds

At the beginning of his 2020 encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, Pope ­Francis speaks of “an episode in the…

Job and Her

J. Mark Mutz

It is said that Job lost everything, but she has lost more. All her possessions—the money, the…