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Home  »  The World’s Best Poetry  »  “Drink to me only with thine eyes”

Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.

I. Admiration

“Drink to me only with thine eyes”

Ben Jonson (1572–1637)

From the Greek of Philostratus

From “The Forest”

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 honoring thee

As giving it a hope that there

It could not withered 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!