We have been advised
That we are in a three month lockdown
Many more according to the PM
And more than one
Medical expert

Hard to take
To be sure
Needing us to invent
Brand new ways of living
Day by day dragging on

Here comes the connection
To ancient times
Penelope
On the island of Ithaca
The wife of Odysseus
So celebrated in verse

He departed leaving
A new born son
To fight in that terrible war
At Troy , a prolonged event
That left behind so many dead
Among them Hector
Son of Agamemnon
And even Achilles
Shot in the heel

Eventually Odysseus departed for home
But encountered many obstacles
In that much celebrated journey
While Penelope waited
For twenty long years
For her hero to come home
And by then Telemachus
Had grown into a strong young man
Didn’t recognise or respect
This missing father

So if you think that a few months
Of isolation in your home
Is a burden to bear
Think of Penelope
Waiting so long
We’ll be singing a song
Of liberation
Long before her!