Antique Apron Sink In AN ANCIENT GESTURE, By Edna Millay..pretty Please Help Me?

In AN ANCIENT GESTURE, by Edna Millay..pretty please help me? - antique apron sink

Okay, in a gesture old Edna Millay
What es''el old gesture''?
I do not understand, please help.
Here's the poem:
An age-old gesture


I thought as I wiped my eyes on the corner of my apron:
Penelope did this too.
And more than once: You can not keep weaving all day
And cancel the whole night;
Your arm gets tired and the neck is narrow;
And in the course of the morning, if you think it will never be easy,
And her husband is away, and I do not know where for many years.
Suddenly she began to cry;
There is nothing else to do.

And I thought, wiping his eyes on the corner of my apron:
It is an ancient gesture, authentic, old
In the best tradition, classic, Greek;
Ulysses did this too.
But only as a gesture, a gesture that means
In the crowd was too upset to speak.
He was told by Penelope ...
Penelope, who really cried





Sooooosooooosooooo PS thank you very much:]