For Gerd Stern
The row of books is talking like a ghost
in mildewy damp voices. Look at me.
Choose me as I was chosen by your host.
Each guest’s a world. Each world welcomes a guest.
When you have had enough of sun and sea
a line of books will beckon, friendly ghost
from a dim realm where conversations cross
the border of invisibility.
Choose me. I once was chosen by your host.
Surviving texts whose provenance is lost
present the mottled pages that you see.
The line of books is flickering like a ghost.
Which of those stories did someone love the most?
Which words sank into someone’s memory?
Choose one. Was it picked out by your host
or left in passing? You can be the first:
re-open any tome that takes your eye
years later. Each book whispers, urgent ghost:
Choose me. I was chosen by your host.
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
Why the Death Penalty Is a Sore Point for Papal Authority
Pope Leo XIV marked World Day Against the Death Penalty, observed on October 10, with the following…
The Myth of St. Francis
At the beginning of his 2020 encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis speaks of “an episode in the…
Job and Her
It is said that Job lost everything, but she has lost more. All her possessions—the money, the…
