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.
.
Arturo Giovannitti, 1884–1959
“To Mussolini” from Collected Poems
© 1962 Arturo Giovannitti
Portrait of Mussolini on the Palazzo Braschi in Rome (1929)
