Читать книгу Best Loved Hymns and Readings - Martin Manser - Страница 41

This love poem by Ben Jonson was first published in the miscellany entitled The Forest (1616). Today it is a popular choice of reading at wedding celebrations.

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!

Ben Jonson (1572-1637)