Dear sir , have you considered this could be

the ghost of that same predatory flea

that sucked the blood of the lady loved by John,

Now come un-Donne , and sacrificed upon

her purpled fingernail ? It now lives once

in his persuasive verse , and for the nonce

in your brief sketch that catches all the lust

for blood its soul contains . So now you must ,

driven by your vision and your art,

to others following its truth impart.

You paint the visceral . He, on the whole ,

With Jesuit metaphysics assailed her soul.

Your tempera on its panel can now respond

to what was lost : a fanciful marriage bond.

Two hundred years and still remembrance lingers;

A ghost enlivened by your skilful fingers .