Short poem en français, English, español e em português. With apologies to Georges Clemenceau, who in 1898 gifted posterity with “Le meilleur moment de l’amour, c’est quand on monte l’escalier” (Nothing in love beats that first night, climbing the stairs.)

N.B.: This is a paring down of the original post of this date, which contained this poem(s) plus another one. This latter has been removed for further consideration, reworking or trashing.

Le meilleur moment, c’est quand on monte l’escalier

Elle lisait le premier
Volume du Deuxième sexe
A propos duquel, pendant trois
Heures nous avons parlé, jusqu’à quatre
Heures du matin, quand, les trois derniers
Boutons défaits, nous nous sommes
Engagés à ce qui nous deux
A, ah, oui, uni.

The best moment is when you’re climbing the stairs

She was reading the first
Volume of The Second Sex, about
Which for three hours we talked, until
Sometime around 4 in the morning, when,
The last three buttons came unbuttoned,
And we could do what has us two
United.

El mejor momento es cuando subes la escalera

Estaba leyendo el primer
volumen de El Segundo Sexo,
sobre el cual, durante tres horas
hablamos, hasta las cuatro de la mañana,
cuando, los tres últimos botones
desabrochados, hicimos lo
que nosotros dos
hemos unido.

O melhor momento é quando se sobe a escada

Eu estava a ler o primeiro
volume de O Segundo Sexo, sobre
o qual, durante três horas, falámos,
até às quatro horas da manhã, quando os
últimos três botões se desfizeram,
fizemos o que nós dois
nos unimos.

— Poem(s) and drawing by William Eaton.