A poem for our times

Just for fun, each stanza contains at least one quotation or an allusion to a line from Shakespeare. So, if you have a space in your schedule, you can see if you can name all the plays (fewer plays than stanzas). Bonus marks for the  characters.

       Corona Times
       It’s Monday, and a brave new world.
       We have a plan; we’ll make it work.
       First, Pilates, for a boost,
       Learn Italian, start on Proust.

       On Tuesday, we return once more
       ​Unto the breach, and take a tour
       Of three museums, make some bread,
       Organise the garden shed.

       On Wednesday we detect a sound
       So rich and strange. We hunt around –
       Not smoke alarm, nor mobile tone …
       Aha! It is the telephone.

       Friday creeps at petty pace.
       The walls press in; we press escape,
       Then spend a happy afternoon
       Zoomed into next door’s living room.

       Oh now it’s Friday. Now we see
       Time’s out of joint, and so are we.
       Caught in this life’s revolving door,
       We stiffen our resolve once more.

       No-end weekend, daily Sabbath –
       Method will o’ercome the madness.
       When Monday comes, we will divine
       The syllables of common time.

-Dr Debbie Pullinger