Posters and Politicians

Search as I will, I cannot find
A politician with a mind
   Disposed to the aesthetic,
Who can detect in ugliness
Grave cause for national distress,
   Or, in a vein prophetic,
Perceive a race foredoomed to die
Whose countryside offends the eye.

A sight that wakes a poet's ire,
Or strikes a spark of furious fire
   From painter or musician,
Gives to the maker of our laws
No least uneasiness, because
   He is a politician;
And, being such, nought else can see
Save virtue in publicity.

For him advertisement's the breath
Of life, and lack of it is death.
   Therefore, he loves a hoarding.
He is a hoarding, plastered o'er
With slogans and catch-cries galore,
   His excellence recording.
Mere beauty by the highway's brim
Is just a slab of earth to him.

Why should we wonder then to see
This singular affinity?
   Poster and politician
Shouting self-praise throughout the land,
Go down the ages hand in hand
   In fit juxtaposition.
For ever blatant where should be
Peace, beauty and tranquility.