A Walk in Avondale.

I pass the moss green stone
And I remember you.
The Avonmore flows by.
And visions float.

The Redwood trees at Avondale
planted with love by John Parnell
were for you…his wife
to make you feel at home.

To remind you of East Coast USA.
I look at them now…swaying
dark evergreens..some battered
by the years.

I imagine that young Delia…

Your New World Boston ways,
Your love of science, music, art,
and modern mind and plucky heart.
Your striking beauty…belle of the ball
Which masked a Rebel’s heart.

How strange that you should
end up living here!
In Avondale…so far from city lights.

A Fenian in your heart and deeds,

You shocked ‘polite’ society, both he and you are gone.
I think of you when
I walk here.
Those sneery toffs
who gathered here and there in opulence.

Whilst others fiddled with embroidery,
You hid ‘scruffy rebels ‘in your house
Raised funds for them.

I smile at that.

Delia… I’m walking passed
the dreary slab of grey that was your home.
Beside the fire in the drawing room,
Your gown became a blaze of death…and
within hours you were dead.

Dear Delia…you did not deserve that end.

Kristine Byrne 23rd Jan 2020
Illustration Kristine Byrne.

Delia Parnell, mother of 12, assisted her political daughters
Anna and Fanny Parnell to found The Ladies Land League,
which had 500 branches throughout Ireland working with evicted and impoverished families.
Delia raised funds in the US.
It was eventually to become a victim of its own success…and was closed down by a resentful Charles Parnell, Delia’s son,
Anna Parnell wrote a book called The Great Sham. (out of print, I have a copy.

but …it’s true to say…
You are forgotten nowadays.

The US War of Independence
had given Liberty and hope.
And you were on our side,
Demanding British Rule should end..