SHADOW MAN

I had a lot of MPs who went in and out with me,
And what could be the use of them was more than I could see.
I pretended to be like them in most every kind of way;
And they followed on behind me though I led them far astray.

The funniest thing about them is the way they'd like to fight -
Not at all like proper people, which is always to the Right;
For they sometimes were so perverse
                              and of States-side sense bereft,
That they sometimes read red speeches
                                and then led off to the Left.

They hadn't got a notion of how MPs ought to go,
And could only make a fool of me at every US show.
They learned, and stayed behind me,
                                for they're cowards you can see;
I'd think shame to stick to voters
                             as those Members stuck to me!

One polling day, quite early, in the midst of my 'nth' war,
I rose and found the faithful pews less faithful than before;
For those nasty little voters, had left them to their fates,
And no one was behind me, neither MPs nor the States.

                    (Apologies to Robert Louis Stevenson)