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ITALYS FIGHTING POET Most of us know little of the Italian poet dAn ntinzlos achievements In the realm of letters We usually think of him simply as a burning poet patriot who did so much to wreck an abhorrent alliance with the central powers and bring Italy into the ranks of militant freedom And niore re ¬ cently he has thrilled us by leading t fleet of Italian airplanes over the Austrian capital and showering the royal palace not with bombs but with manifestoes manifestoesIt It seems almost incredible to associate modern warfare with poetry f fAnd And yet we have the greatest of Italys living poets and novelists fighting among the most heroic figures in the world war Patriot ¬ ism love of justice and freedom are his passion And if there is dangerous work he not only volun ¬ teers but insists on being sent His exploits are as romantic as his poetry he has performed the most astounding feats by land sea and tiir I met him at the headquarters of his flying squadron writes a London Times corresiiolident He was lit cavalry uniform he had served in the army before the war nd immaculately dressed He wore large dark spectacles for he has lost the sight of one eye by shell splinter and it was at one time feared that he would become totally blind And on his tunic were four full rows of ribbons each one a token of an act of bravery To me the world of poetry seemed to have turned topsyturvy When he escorted us around his planes explaining their technique and what they had done dAnnunzio the poet vanished and only dAnnunzio the soldier re ¬ mained But we met dAnmmzio the poet when he conducted us to his room Here was the poet his room was poetry itself in the beautiful draperies of the wall the arrangement of the furniture and the books And then like all journalists in search of incident we asked him about his trip to Vienna when lie dropped pamphlets over the city He re ¬ garded it as just an ordinary flight Could we sec the pamphlet Yes Could we have one each Yes And would he autograph them Yes So he sat at his table and autographed the pamphlets and then handed them round witit a smile atid a bow One of us asked him to recite Ills pamphlet With a gesture of pleasure lie bejrau to intone the words which lie literally flung at the Austrian and which ended thus On the wings of victory that rise from the rivers of liberty we have only come for the joy of courage and daring We have only come to demon The flight itself he described thus I had made up my mind that be the weather Our route lay over Coftellazzo Civvidale Klagett fnrt Keichenfels Kappenberg Neuberg and Wiener Neustadt Coming back we took a parallel course to the east crossing the top of the Adriatic with three Italian destroyers below in escort Over Lai bach there was a heavy barrage fire but on tiie whole journey we saw only one enemy airplane near Trieste Yet if the Austrian had had it in them they could have telephoned from Vienna while we were there to have every chaser machine on their front tin and waiting for us Over Vienna lay a pale blue mist Leaving our manifestoes drift ¬ ing down in white showers behind us we turned for Italy Sad it was though on the homeward way to see beautiful captive Trieste shining in the sun Without doubt Italys fighting poet is one of the most remarkably versatile of men lit a business venture lie would be judged a keen practical man In a salon of Komait nobility he is a dis ¬ tinguished and charming personality And in the event of airfight we can imagine Fritz referring to him as a fiend on wings DAnnunzio is a complex manysided character the Proteus of all mens talents to use the appellation of Ad ¬ mirable Crichton Certainly he has packed im ¬ mense endeavor and achievement in his fiftyodd strenuous years But his greatest service to his country and mankind will remain his war prophecy his clear vision of Italys duty to herself and the world and the effectiveness of his war leadership leadershipThose Those who provoke thought render great service and those who move the general conscience to doing wisely bravely and generously render inestimable
