It was published in 1973 in his collection The Winter Man, so I do not know which particular election, if any, he had in mind
It is however worth noting that, born in 1922, he ought to have got his first vote in the momentous general election of 1945 which rejected Winston Churchill & brought in a Labour government
And the year after this poem was published we had the 2 momentous Who Governs Britain? elections of 1974
Polling day
Politics, said Bismarck, is not
An exact science. Neither is science,
At least it’s not to me.
Towards each of these important matters
My attitude is less than reverential
Yet I accept that one cannot deny
The relevance of both, not now
Especially as I approach the booth,
Once more prepare myself
To make this positive, infrequent act
Of self-commitment, wishing that I could
Do more than scrawl a black anonymous mark –
The illiterate’s signature
Or graphic kiss – against my favourite’s name.
Incongruous, one thinks
But is it so? In my case not entirely
Since I am voting unscientifically
For one who might be midwife to a dream
Of justice, charity & love
Or scatter obstinately truthful seeds
On these deceitful plots.
No argument or rhetoric could lend
My gesture & my hope more confidence,
So oddly apt this cross, illiterate kiss
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