Wednesdays@One friends and writers learned this afternoon that our dear friend and fellow writer passed away earlier in the day. Delaney had fought cancer since at least the first of the year and became debilitated by it only in the last few weeks. When it took him, it took him fast, and we were informed that Delaney died peacefully at UNC Hospice, Pittsboro, North Carolina.
Everyone feels subdued, quietened, reined in by this news. His attendance at our weekly salons had dropped off sometime after the beginning of the year, and now we know why.
Delaney was a writer of sonnets. To be more specific, he was a writer of English sonnets and the occasional Petrarchan sonnet. His themes ranged from the occult to the spiritual, the Civil War, the Vietnam War (his last poem shared with W@1 is an anti-war diatribe recalling the war that America visited upon that small country), lovers and love, death and eternity, loss and gain. We were always surprised when Delaney shared something other than a sonnet with us, but never surprised by the depth and passion of his poetry!
Here is the last sonnet he shared, at our salon on February 19, 2020:
The Pursuit of the Red Mouse
I dreamt you walked among my treasures eyes ablaze.
Thin lines of light as fine as silk began to flow
Between our hearts until cocooned, I met your gaze.
The radiance consumed all discord one could know.
Your auburn locks were glowing, brightening a path
Into those umber orbs, so clearly seeking love.
While all who dared oppose were slain in fiery wrath;
You gently beckoned onward - raised a satin glove.
Behind my face my leaden vaults became unsealed.
Unleashed, the golden words, coin and currency
Of honest, precious, true desire, remained revealed.
A princely ransom, yet unclaimed, I cede to thee!
When I awoke, the morning treeline sketched her gown;
Where strands of sparkling gossamer were trailing down.
Kenneth Patchen could not have - never did - write a better love poem than this. I wish I could write a love poem as good as this.
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