The shortest poem

Soldati (soldiers) is certainly one of the shortest poems ever written in Italian and is very famous. Its author is Giuseppe Ungaretti, an Italian poet who fought in the First World War as a trench soldier, and wrote the poem in 1918. The poem is short and simple, yet says it all : 'we are like leaves on the trees in autumn'. The first line 'si sta' is an impersonal form meaning literally 'one finds oneself'.

Soldati

Si sta
come d'autunno
sugli alberi
le foglie