Penelope and the Suitors

Beset by suitors who refused to leave,
Penelope spun plots to stall them all.
"I must complete this hanging for the wall.
And then I'll choose. Both day and night I'll weave."
But while they snoozed at night, she pulled the thread,
undoing all the work from that same day.
Drinking to kill the time, they missed the way
that they were being stealthily misled.
"Where has that bastard gone?" she sometimes thought,
especially at night, when without joy
she pulled the thread. "I know he sailed from Troy
long years ago. If he's alive he ought
to send some word. And if he's drowned at sea,
his body should wash up to set me free."