[From which will be perceived not only that telephonic communication
exists between Fiume and Lucerne, but also that there is an easy way
out of the difficulty with Greece if only the League of Nations will
utilise the instrument that lies to their hand.]
_D'Annunzio (testily)._ Hello, Lucerne! Hello! Is that the Greek KING?
Confound this buzz! Is that you, TINO?
_King Constantine._ Speaking.
What do you want? I'm packing up my grip.
_D'Ann._ D'ANNUNZIO speaks. Attend the trumpet's lip.
Snatching a few brief moments, CONSTANTINE,
Out of my business morning--eight to nine,
Composing epic poems; nine to one,
Consolidating our position in the sun
(Sweet Alexandrine!), breakfast, bath and post,
A raid or two on the Dalmatian coast,
Speeches, parades and promulgating laws
Which, being published to my followers, cause
Loud cries of "Author!" and sustained applause;
Such is the round of toil that leaves not limp
Fiume's favoured Pontifex et Imp.--
I thought I'd ring you up.
_King Con._ Well, well, what is it?
_D'Ann._ I hear you are proposing to revisit
Athens.
_King Con._ Well, if I am, what's that to you?
_D'Ann._ This, that, whilst gazing at the local blue
The other day, I hit upon the plan
Of conquering the Mediterranean,
Including the Ægean and the finer
Portions, most probably, of Asia Minor,
And holding them as provinces beneath
Fiume and my own imperial wreath.
_King Con._ Go on, then, dash you.
_D'Ann._ I shall soon begin;
But I decline to have you butting in.
Tyrants there still may be, but not the sort
Discarded from a philo-Teuton Court;
The tolerant warmth that sheds a kind of lustre
Over a stout Ausonian filibuster
Does not extend to thoroughly bad hats
Like abdicated Hellene autocrats.
And, if the Allies feel some slight reserve
About resisting your confounded nerve,
I, GABRIELE, do not. You may be
A kind of subject satrap under me;
If not, look out. You shall have cause to know
The singing eagles of D'ANNUNZIO.
_King Con._ I'll think it over.
_D'Ann._ Do so swiftly then;
Meanwhile good morning; I must see some men--
Also the Muse. She waits upon my pen.
[_Rings off._