New at IWP Books: Leonard Bacon, 1940, Sunderland Capture and Other Poems.

Lauro de Bosis

Laughed by his own truth in the teeth of fate,
He rose like his own Icarus and fell,
The liberator who arrived too late.
Yet who is he dare say he did not well?

Over Rome towering, unafraid he came,
Thundering his challenge from the Autumn cloud.
And they who took it up name not his name —
No man has strength to cope with the uncowed.

Into the darkness, whether or no shot down,
What skill to ask? Or who is it that cares?
In the abyss he vanished with the crown
That only the triumphant spirit wears.

And none henceforth shall dare forget this thing
While dream and truth subsist, or wreath and wing.