English followed by une version en français y una versión en español. There is also an Afterword courtesy of William Appleman Williams’ The Tragedy of American Diplomacy (1959 and 1972).

A simple poem

I would have a woman do

All that a woman might do.

And would that in our warm commerce,

She found what pleased her too!

And might other business thrive,

Bringing comforts and delights,

And without any laborers paying

With their health or with their lives.

In the heaven of my little mind

People would do their best

To embrace their allotted time,

Active, hearty, kind.

Français

Un simple poème

J’aimerais bien qu’une femme fasse

Tout ce qu’elle pourrait pour moi.

Et lors de nos échanges les plus tendres,

Qu’elle se divertisse aussi !

Et que d’autres commerces prospèrent,

Avec du confort et des délices,

Et sans que des travailleurs paient

De leur santé ou de leur vie.

Dans le ciel de mon petit esprit

Tout le monde de son mieux ferait,

Profitant du temps imparti,

Actif, généreux, gentil.

Español

Un poema sencillo

Me encantaría que una mujer hiciera

todo lo possible por mi.

Pero querría que lo hiciera

¡disfrutando ella por igual!

Y que nuestros negocios prosperen,

nos traigan consuelo y mucho más,

y sin que los empleados paguen

con sus vidas ni salud.

En el paraíso de mi mente

daríamos lo mejor de nosotros mismos,

disfrutando del tiempo que nos toca,

amables, generosos, activos.

Afterword

I drafted this poem after reading over breakfast a few pages of William Appleman Williams‘s The Tragedy of American Diplomacy (first published in 1959, but revised up to 1972, thus including the war in Vietnam). Two representative passages:

Thus, even by itself, the elitism generated terror about what was done as well as about how the decisions were made. Such dismay was deepened by the [American] elite’s self-isolation from the nature of reality, by its loss of power of critical thought, by its exaggerated confidence in American economic strength and military might, by its own arrogance and self-righteousness, and by its messianic distortion of a sincere humanitarian desire to help other peoples.

[T]he changes introduced by American penetration [into other countries] served primarily to create islands of modernism that intensified the skewed and inequitable character of those societies.

— Poem(s) and photograph by William Eaton.