Song: to Celia (“Drink to me only with thine eyes”) Summary

“Song: to Celia” is a love poem by the English Renaissance poet Ben Jonson. The poem is addressed to Celia, a woman for whom the speaker has unrequited feelings. He begins by emphasizing that one hint of her favor would satisfy him, even though he knows his soul needs more than just human love. Indeed, he wouldn’t exchange Celia’s affections even for a sip from the nectar of the gods themselves. The second half of the poem emphasizes her quasi-divine qualities. Jonson writes that he sent her a wreath of roses, in the hope that with her they would not die. She returned them, but now they resemble her.