VASCO PRATOLINI'S FATE

None can get away
with language's conscience
when you fought
in the Resistance
it does matter
when evil is confronted
among the millions dead
behind school fences
factories, libraries,
music departments,
a child as barefoot
and certain as Medusa
emerges from the rubble
the news media
is excited for a 12 hour
cycle of vital gesture
curses its rivals
then the picture emerges
of a tender life in death.