Beyond the Shadow

The world hit a wall in the spring of that year,
School gates were shut, every breath tasted fear.
Classrooms stood silent, the playgrounds were still,
And private in teaching meant pockets were nil.

They halved what he earned just to keep afloat,
And he gripped tight the wheel of his shaking boat.
But she that he loved didn’t see the world’s pain,
She saw some dark secret; she swore he must feign.

She drank in whispers from a false pulpit on high,
Traded their sworn truth for a prophetic lie.
With three little children and chaos within,
She opened the door and ushered the devil in—

It wasn’t long till he was living a lie,
He watched his name slowly wither and die.
Her words painted him guilty all over the town,
While he fought just to keep from going down.

The mistake was not COVID or the money they took,
Her heart was a field where all rumours took root.
Where trust could not live, and love could not stay,
And fault-finding habits just pushed all respect away.

But time is a teacher more patient than school,
And distance is kinder than staying a fool.
In months spent alone, in the quiet and cold,
He found there was still a new story to hold.

He wiped all the sweat from a peaceful brow,
That man in the mirror is stronger now.
Distance showed him what love should have been,
Not fear dressed up holy, not wounds called a sin.

She thought she was leaving a man in the dust,
But she gave him a life he could finally trust.
Unlike Rebekah of old, who stood in belief,
She dwelt in suspicion, and he found relief adrift.