Epitaffio per un tiranno (Epitaph on a tyrant)

Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after, and the poetry he invented was easy to understand; he knew human folly like the back of his hand, and was greatly interested in armies and fleets; when he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter, and when he cried the little children died in the streets.

Wystan Hugh Auden

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Una sorta di perfezione era quello a cui mirava,

e la poesia che inventava era facile da capire;

conosceva la follia umana come il palmo della sua mano,

e aveva grande interesse per gli eserciti e le flotte;

quando rideva, venerabili senatori scoppiavano a ridere,

e quando piangeva, i bambini morivano nelle strade.

Wystan Hugh Auden