POETRY: Walked Out of Marriage

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Walked Out of Marriage: A Poetry Written by Jude Idada

We all knew him as uncomfortably silent.

He hardly spoke.

Just smiled.

And listened.

Sometimes you forgot he was even in the room.

And when you did remember he was there, you actually could hear his brain ticking as he listened to everything.

He was mild-mannered.

Fastidious.

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Immaculate in dressing and neat in his living.

He minded his business.

But one thing we knew was that once he made up his mind about an issue, nothing will change it.

Absolutely nothing.

We all graduated.

And it took years to hear from him again.

But we eventually did.

He was in Atlanta.

Married.

To his university sweetheart we had all known him with.

As mild-mannered and quiet as he was.

Beautiful and unpretentious.

But when we finally met up with him.

He was just recently divorced.

We were shocked.

And asked him how that came about.

He said.

Matter of fact.

"People change. The more successful we became, the more different she became. Total insecurity. Every woman was her rival. I mean it became so bad that she began embarrassing me by calling my female colleagues and trying to introduce herself and forcing a friendship with them so as to monitor me and them. She will search my phones for calls and chats. Go into my email to search for what I don't know. I warned her. She will not hear. Then she started opening my mails from the mailbox. She found nothing but she couldn't stop. It was as if she was possessed by this desire to catch me cheating and the more she couldn't the more she couldn't stop herself from searching. Can you believe it? Me that was always home if I am not at work. Always doting on her. She will say, fine man like you with all this money and success, there is no way other women won't have their eyes on you. I told her to trust that success hadn't changed me from what she knew me as, but obviously had changed her. This was a woman who was doing well at work too. Had three children to take care of. But it was me that was her issue. So I told her that the next time she checked my emails, my phone or monitored my friendships, I will walk out of the marriage. She thought I was joking. My boss called me late at night because there was an emergency at work. She picked up my cell phone, and when my boss asked to speak with me after exchanging pleasantries with her, my wife asked her what for, and told her that being that my boss is a married woman herself doesn't she know it is wrong to call another married man at that time of the night? Then she hung up the phone on my boss after telling her that she should keep work matters at work and learn to keep things professional with her male staff. That was it. I walked out. And even if God comes now to tell me to take her back. I will tell him. I am sorry I cannot do it."