in which I show off my poor skills at poetry

In this comment at John Mac's blog, I wrote a French-language poem, with the rhythm and meter of an English limerick, which I then translated twice into English—once in a literally accurate way, and once in a rougher way that tries to preserve the original's traits. Enjoy.

If you're too lazy to click over, here's the French-language original:

un Français est dans les chiottes
avec de la merde sur les bottes
y chie et y pousse
et la merde éclabousse
à la fin, y’est fier de ses crottes

It isn't perfectly done, as limericks go, but you can make it work if you read it out loud. Click over to see the English translations, as well as some explanatory notes.