Song: To Celia
First published in The Forest, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (1616); text from The Oxford Book of English Verse 1250–1900, ed. A. T. Quiller-Couch (Oxford, 1900; Clarendon Press impression of 1931).
Drink to me only with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss but in the cup
And I’ll not look for wine.
The thirst that from the soul doth rise
Doth ask a drink divine;
But might I of Jove’s nectar sup,
I would not change for thine.
I sent thee late a rosy wreath,
Not so much honouring thee
As giving it a hope that there
It could not wither’d be;
But thou thereon didst only breathe,
And sent’st it back to me;
Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,
Not of itself but thee!