(English followed by une version en français y una versión en español.)

Avant-propos

Not long ago The Guardian presented the graphic shown at right. I passed it along to my wife, noting that the stats for ever having been completely naked “in a natural body of water” seemed surprisingly low.

It also seemed to me that a great question of our age could be: Have you ever been completely naked in the shower? In my heath club lockerroom one never sees people naked (as was universal 10 or so years ago). When going to and from the shower, the “boys” keep their undershorts on (and thus perhaps in the shower as well?).

I also sent the graphic to an American friend who used to have an American friend who lived in Copenhagen. My friend’s response: “The Danes often come out as the happiest people.”

“Have you watched some of their movies?” I replied. “Depressing!”

Similarly life in France seems very good to me, but I often see French dramatic works—plays or movies—in which the people are not very happy, and this particularly because they are not very nice to one another. And yet, French people, to include government officials, are very nice to me. This perhaps because of my advanced age, because I’m a writer, or because I’m an American who speaks French?

A next question: Can any of all this explain or justify the following poem?

English

They were not very nice

They were not very nice.

They did not need to be.

When nice seemed needed or useful,

They liked getting dressed up.

They liked getting dressed up and smiling,

And seeing how this pleased.

And when they were clearly pleasing,

They felt good about themselves.

And self-satisfied and feeling good,

No need to be nice.

Français

Elles n’étaient pas très gentilles

Elles n’étaient pas très gentilles.

Elles n’avaient pas besoin de l’être.

Quand la gentillesse semblait bénéfique ou requise,

Elles aimaient être apprêtées et avoir fière allure.

Elles aimaient être apprêtées et porter un sourire,

Et de voir à quel point cela faisait plaisir.

Et quand elles faisaient plaisir,

Elles se sentaient bien.

Et quand elles se sentaient si bien,

Pas la peine d’être gentilles.

Español

No fueron muy amables

No fueron muy amables.

No tenían por qué serlo.

Cuando serlo parecía necesaria o beneficiosa,

les gustaba arreglarse.

Les gustaba arreglarse, les gustaba sonreír,

y sentir lo atrayente que ellas podían ser.

Y al ser tan atrayentes,

se sentían bien consigo mismas.

Y cuando se sentían tan bien consigo mismas,

muy amables no necesitaban ser.

— Poem(s) and photograph by William Eaton.

Check out Eaton’s 2024 collection of poetry and prose: 4 billion eggs.