The calm before the storm

This was getting to be enough.
Heated arguments
Endless verbal fights.
 
Calmly she retreated
Always.  Wanting to avoid
Long and endless debates
Mulling ways to find a way out.
 
But he would not back down
Eroding her patience with his constant nagging
Forever finding faults with all
Over and over the same tired issues
Refusing to see her side of the story
Ending his evenings away at the pub.
 
This she could tolerate
However, not the fists over her body
Ending with bruised ribs.
 
So one night while he slept
To the kitchen she went
Out came the butcher's knife,
Returning to the bedroom,
Murder was the final word.