To Mussolini

by Arturo Giovannitti

TO MUSSOLINI

A man may lose his soul for just one day
Of splendor and be still accounted wise,
Or he may waste his life in a disguise
Like kings and priests and jesters, and still may

Be saved and held a hero if the play
Is all he knew. But what of him who tries
With truth and fails and then wins fame with lies?
How shall he know what history will say?

By this:     No man is great who does not find
A poet who will hail him as he is
With an almighty song that will unbind

Through his exploits eternal silences.
Duce, where is your bard? In all mankind
The only poem you inspired is this.