‘Iwant, I want” is William Blake’s 1793 philosophical cartoon showing a child reaching the moon not via a spaceship but a ladder. T. S. Eliot said Blake’s engraving, the size of a playing card, “exhibits the essential sickness or strength of the human soul” in a way children and adults alike can fathom.
What do I want for 2026? Not a trip to the moon, I guarantee you. And “I want” seems very demanding, the English translation of my cat’s plaintive mews five minutes after her usual dinner time. Gravy trainers of all faiths, colors, creeds, and foreign origins use “gimme, gimme, gimme.” Polite and subtle as I am, I’d prefer “I’d like,” but some things I just want, and I want ’em now.
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