A passive-aggressive, controlling husband
This is a generic story of a form of domestic abuse between a passive-aggressive, controlling husband and a submissive wife. The husband is jealous and protective and insists on moderating his wife's emails, SMSs, social media etc in the name of keeping her safe from predators. He blocks any man who gets too close to his treasure, pries into her business and cuts her off from much of the outside world. She is upset about being censored like this but doesn't want to cause a fuss for fear of him turning the kids against her or losing them entirely. She despises herself for being such a coward but lacks the strength to take action. To escape her self-revulsion she escapes to fictional worlds and non-productive therapeutical pastimes. She is no longer the person she was and loses her job and her self-esteem. This abuse does not benefit anyone in the family, especially not the kids who will grow up to perpetuate the dynamic in their own lives.
This is written in the Martian sonnet form. Yes, another one!
There was a man who had a small, strange wife,
Uxorious and jealous to a fault.
A clever man, yet not quite worth his salt.
Who thought it best that he control her life.
He checked her phone and emails to look,
For clues that there might be another man.
Those he deemed too close to her he'd ban.
Control of all her online world he took.
He claimed he did it solely to protect,
For she had not the courage to oppose,
The men who sent this man into a rage.
And so this woman's happiness he wrecked,
And to safeguard his treasure I suppose,
He kept his wife inside a gilded cage.
A feminist, you'd think she'd flee his thrall,
But children were the trump card that he played,
And so she sacrificed herself and stayed,
Destroyed by the worst bully of them all.
She couldn't face the thing that she'd become,
So she retreated to her inner land;
A fantasy where she was in command,
Until to pain and shame she had turned numb.
'Twere me I'd wait until the man had sped,
And then I'd browse in incognito mode,
And make a new account with a cool name.
I'd keep the name and password in my head,
And never leave a trace of seeds I'd sowed,
Until at last my soul I could reclaim.
Though he maintain he did it all for her,
Though he maintain his love for her is great,
Yet he it is to blame for her sad state.
That he is bad you safely can infer.
Though she knows well they ought to live apart,
Though she knows well how she ought to behave,
Yet that way out is only for the brave,
And she remains a coward in her heart.
Consider then the damage over time,
To all of those involved in this abuse,
As we observe this tragedy aghast:
The father, who is guilty of a crime,
The mother, who resorted to excuse,
The children, who will recreate the past.
Warren Mars - June 2026