Candidate

It all depends on how many faces you can wear.

You can travel a distance on three or four;

On a dozen you can go almost anywhere.

They tell me you are a good man for county judge,

A good man despite a conscience as flexible as leather,

Despite the easy promises you genially swear,

Despite the quake of laughter to soothe a voter’s grudge.

I am told one should choose political brothers,

And a man must raise his hand for somebody.

If I should raise my hand, and I lift it for you,

For which face shall I vote?—Yours is shifty as weather.

I think I would choose the one Adam wore

If I could find it under all the others.

A man must raise his hand for somebody.