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Three poems of Ben Jonson

Song Cycle by Ernst Alexander 'Sas' Bunge (1924 - 1980)

1. Still to be neat  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Still to be neat, still to be drest,
As you were going to a feast;
Still to be powder'd, still perfum'd:
Lady, Lady, it is to be presum'd:
Though art's hid causes are not found,
All is not sweet, all is not sound.
Give me a look, give me a face,
That makes simplicity a grace;
Robes loosely flowing, hair is free;
Such sweet neglect more taketh me 
Than all th'adulteries of art;
They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.

Text Authorship:

  • by Ben Jonson (1572 - 1637)

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • GER German (Deutsch) (Richard Flatter) , "Süße Saumsal", appears in Die Fähre, Englische Lyrik aus fünf Jahrhunderten, first published 1936

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. Song to Celia  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Come my Celia, let us prove,
We may the sweets of love,
Time will not be ours for ever,
He at lenght our good will sever,
Spend not then his gifts in vaine,
Sunnes that set may rise again,
But if we once loose this light,
'tis with us perpetuall night.
Why should wee deferre our joyes?
Fame and rumour are but toyes.
Cannot we delude the eyes
Of a few poore household spyes,
Or his easier eares beguile,
Thus removed by our wile?
'tis no sinne loves fruit to steale,
but the sweete theft to reveale,
to be taken, to be seene,
these have crimes accounted been.

Text Authorship:

  • by Ben Jonson (1572 - 1637)

See other settings of this text.

Researcher for this page: Linda Godry

3. Drink to me only   [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Drink to me only with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss within the cup,
And I'll not ask 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 send'st it back to me:
Since when it grows, and smells, I swear
Not of itself, but thee.

Text Authorship:

  • by Ben Jonson (1572 - 1637), "Song to Celia"

Based on:

  • a text in Greek (Ελληνικά) by Lucius Flavius Philostratus (c170 - c248), quotes from love letters 24, 30 and 31 [text unavailable]
    • Go to the text page.

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Bertram Kottmann) , "Lied an Celia", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Note: parodied in Archibald Stodart-Walker's Blink to me only with thine eyes.


Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
Total word count: 290
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