a poem from 1616 in a cartoon from 1936

[aquamarcia]

I recently purchased Seventeenth Century Poetry: An Annotated Anthology, edited by Robert Cummings, to use in my efforts to find a poem I mentioned in a prior request post. While skimming the book I discovered a poem which, in its musical form, features very briefly in a Merrie Melodie from 1936. I Love to Singa stars Owl Jolson, a recently hatched owlet who loves to croon the song that's the title of the cartoon. His dad doesn't like jazz crooners and tries to get the wee lad to sing classical works, and the song Owl Jolson is forced to sing is the musically enhanced version of the poem below. Clips of I Love to Singa are available on YouTube if you want to hear what I'm typing.

Song: to Celia (‘Drink to me only with thine eyes’)

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 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.

by Ben Jonson, published in 1616