AMORES - I.5 | IT WAS A SCORCHER ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ovid | trans. Daniel Galbraith | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Aestus erat, mediamque dies exegerat horam;
Ecce, Corinna venit, tunica velata recincta,
Ut stetit ante oculos posito velamine nostros,
Singula quid referam? nil non laudabile vidi
| It was a scorcher - a sweltering afternoon. I reclined on the couch. There shutters were half-open-half-closed, With a quasi-lumberlight, A dusky light, a day-to-night light Or a dawny light, a night-to-day light. Shy girls require this haziness: In it they want to hide their bashfulness. Look - Corinna! Loosely dressed With parted hair tucked over her ivory neck Like sexy Semiramis, the exotic Queen Or loose Lais, the harlot. I tore off her scanty tunic, But she grabbed it back - Albeit half-heartedly, and so I was the victor, she self-betrayed. There she was in front of me, nude; On her body no blemish to be seen. Oh, what shapely shoulders! What arms I’ve seen and touched! What curvaceous breasts, fit to be caressed! Her smooth belly below her elegant bosom! What a long, slender side! What a thrilling thigh! But why single out fragments of her form? Nothing was unworthy of praise. At last I clasped her naked form to mine. You can fill in the rest yourself. Then, breathless, we both eased up. Oh, let every noontime turn out like this for me! |
Winner of the 18-and-under category - Stephen Spender Prize 2008
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