EYEBROWS AND SPECTACLES

Press, 20 November 1982, Page 14

EYEBROWS AND SPECTACLES

By

WHIM WHAM

Only his Portraits show how shaggy The Eyebrows were, the Features craggy, The Man is dead — iinmourned by Maggie. He’s History now, That’s categorical - And History’s more, or less, historical, Ambiguous, like a riddling Oracle. Those eighteen Years! A backward Vista, reviewing which, Rob finds no Mystery, Just add Hot Air, it’s Instant History! Big Leaders, Little Ones likewise, Do as much Harm as in Them lies — Each in Proportion to his Size: The Good they do (as Shakespeare said) Is often buried when they’re dead, Once the official Tears are shed. A live Muldoon speaks louder than A dead Brezhnev — confronts the Man With Poland, Prague, Afghanistan, As if he sat, while Leonid stood, In Judgment — as his Maker could! Sifting the Wicked from the Good. Little to praise, or Much to blame? Death’s the last Word of all that Fame, Those eighteen Years, that potent Name! How could he rule — his Guards disperse! — So absolutely, and no worse? Leave more to bless, or Less to curse? Was he the Servant, or the Master? . Might, we have blundered -r eyen faster! Towards that Nuclear-Disaster? The Eyes are closed, the; Brows don’t move — Now, we must read the Glintings ofThe Spectacles of Andropov.