PICTURE OF A STATESMAN

   by Walter Nash

“….paint my picture truly like me…remark 
all these roughnesses, pimples, warts,
 and everything as you see me….”    
Oliver Cromwell, to his portrait painter, Peter Lely.


He said, “Look – you know – 
I don´t pretend – I mean, I think
I´m a pretty straightforward
sort of chap – you know – I 
like to be upfront
whenever I can, that´s not to say
as far – you know – and – I mean – 
more than ready to talk to the press,
man to man – or womanofcourse – and
to the public just let me say,
what you see is what you get.”

So to the waiting scribes
with singular eloquence 
in the style of a simple man
appealing to his peers
he drew his discourse out
spinning a pleasant web
of almost rational
might-be argument.
Candour so well expressed
gave an illusion of grace,
but the gaps in his character showed
like the warts on Cromwell´s face.