Penelope – A Paragon Of Connubial Fidelity

Ulysses!

Twenty long years and countless seasons have I endured the haunting separation
The piercing loneliness and pain the overwhelming void and suffocating isolation
Silently I burn by day and scorch while hopes wax and wane with delirium
Your thoughts consume my existence torture and threaten my equilibrium
Incredulous thoughts and conflicting emotions and a swell of unspoken words
Dwell on a union now an illusion with elusive reunion to disember so fragile the cords
A wounded heart seeks remission from perpetual turmoil and fast fading expectations
Would I erase myself but constrained am I as custodian by your kingdom and scion.

That momentous advent of Palamedes the emissary of Agamemnon with dismal tiding
The ensuing Trojan war the restoration of Helen the summons for urgent converging
The reluctance to leave a young bride and child sought ploys to overcome calamitous bidding
The oath of Tyndareus invoked with no course of retreat and honor pledged set forth
I a Spartan the daughter of Icarus famed for endurance and fortitude have held the scepter and isle intact
The fruitless waiting the hasty conclusions the clamorous suitors the forceful encampment are ominous proceedings
Valiantly have I fought and succeeded in keeping the boisterous barbarous herd at bay.

A dark shadow looms and the castle is besieged with suitors hundred and eight
Shameless predators stationed with vulturous intent to ravage your honor and state
Their importunities heighten as they devour your resources and roister all night
The callous marauding brutes threaten Telemachus his safety and slight his might
In all faithfulness have I preserved marital virtue and connubial fidelity with insight
A willful deception to weave a burial shroud for the aging Laertes no longer agile
To weave by the day and unravel by night three years elapsed in this guile
Till ensnared by greed the disloyal Melantho did out cry to the vile and hostile.

Yonder behold the young handsome lad your reflection the heir of Ithaca our pride
Telemachus your son your very own blood a staunch supporter to stand by your side
A worthy successor a solace a painful reminder of golden days our future to bide
Unschooled untutored by the valiant Ulysses awaits his sire to lead guide and counsel
To avenge the outrageous deeds the insolence and arrogance of the erring consul
A disillusioned Laertes your aging father overcome with grief holds on for a glimpse
Tarry no more for your loyal race impatiently waits for you stamp out the greed and restore honor.

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By: Veena Umesh Sood
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