All last week, the Minneapolis news weather people were bemoaning the soaring temperatures (70's and 80's) and the atrocious humidity (45%). Being from the South, I left the windows open most of the time and rejoiced in weather that I found positively springlike. Folks back home reported heat indexes of 109 - 117, and the humidity usually hovers around 80% or more. Lots of hot, hot noons. And then I ran across some Ovid in my packing and well, here you go.

Hot Noon
Ovid's The Loves - V

Hot noon, and I was lying in my bed,
The window halfway open, and the light
The way it is in wood, when sun has fled
After the day, before the coming night,
Or before day, after the night has gone,
For modest girls a reassuring shade,
Just the right sort of light, with curtains drawn,
Wherein to lay inviting ambuscade.

And there Corinna entered, with her gown
Loosened a little, and on either side
Of her white neck the dark hair hanging down.
Semiramis could not have been, as bride,
Any more lovely, nor could Lais move
The hearts of men more easily to love.

Sheer though it was, I pulled the dress away;
Pro forma, she resisted more or less.
It offered little cover, I must say,
And why put up a fight to save a dress?
So soon she stood there naked, and I saw,
Not only saw, but felt perfection there,
Hands moving over beauty without flaw,
The breasts, the thighs, the triangle of hair.

No need for catalogue, to itemize
All those delights, nor could I truly say
That I confined my pleasure to my eyes.
Naked, I took her, naked, till we lay
Worn out, done in. Grant me, O gods, the boon
Of many such another sultry noon!