The Country That Ran on Cocaine and Yoga

Hush. On the threshold of the forest I do not hear words you call human, but I hear newer words spoken by droplets and leaves far away.

 - Gabriele d’Annunzio, La pioggia nel pineto (The Rain in the Pine Wood)

As naval shells exploded amongst the terracotta tiles of Fiume’s roofs, throwing red dust and debris across his little Adriatic paradise, Gabriele …