English versions may be found below les versions originales, en français. In November 2026, two of the original poems were eliminated and the other three revised.
Ces trois petits poèmes ont été rédigés très tôt un matin après avoir pris le train à travers les Alpes depuis Genève et dîné dans un restaurant du quartier Città Studi de Milan, et, entre-temps, lu certains des poèmes de jeunesse de Paul Éluard. Pour commencer, voici un de ces derniers, « Lesquels » (Which). Les lignes d’Éluard sont en gras et ma traduction entre parenthèses.
Pendant qu’il est facile
(So long as he is easy)
Et pendant qu’elle est gaie
(And so long as she is gay)
Allons nous habiller et nous déshabiller
(Let’s get dressed up and get undressed)
* * *
Français
[1]
Vevey
Derrière les vitres
Elle, douchée, regardait les montagnes
Qui menaçaient d’être plus que des montagnes
Qui menaçait de dévorer cru le lac inattendu
Pendant qu’à l’autre côté
Elle, douchée, regardait
[2]
Le 13.39 à Milan
Votre livre est plus épais que le lait
Qui s’accumule dans vos seins
O pour un plus que demi-curieux, un demi-regard de plus !
Le train grimpe la rivière
Et court le long de votre coude
[3]
Città Studi
En jeans et en maigre
Ventre nu et tout doux dans l’air
Chez l’arrière-salle d’un resto où
Le triangle de son nez
Plus ou moins trop distrait
Supposé légitimement
Pas tout à fait
English
These short poems were drafted very early one morning after taking a train over the Alps from Geneva and dining at a restaurant in the Città Studi neighborhood of Milan, and, interspersed with this, reading some of Paul Éluard’s youthful poems. Please note that the last line of the English “Città Studi” heads in another direction from that of the French original.
[1]
Vevey
Behind the long panes of glass
She, having showered, looked out at the mountains
Which threatened to be more than mountains
Which threatened to consume the naked lake
While, on the other side
She waited
[2]
On the 13.39 to Milan
Your book is thicker than the milk
Building up in your breasts
O for one more than half-curious, one half-glance more!
The train is climbing the river
And running along your elbow
[3]
Città Studi
Blue-jeaned and lean
Midriff bare, so soft in the air
In that restaurant back room
The wedge of her nose
Absent-mindedly
Quite rightfully assumed
— Poems and drawing by William Eaton. With many thanks to Mae, an excellent model!
[…] ∩ No surprise this: I’ve been reading William Carlos Williams. But not his most famous poems (the plums and the wheelbarrow). Other things, like The Last Words Of My English Grandmother. There are connections here, too, between these Pensées délicieuses, and my explorations based on Paul Éluard poems. […]