to walk like a man

she shucked my boots like corn
tossing each into a dark corner
then commenced what I could not expect.
to my embarrassment 
she attended my severely worn feet
ignoring their reviling condition 
having negotiated many wide and deep hills
travelling valleys 
transversing streams and rivers
to arrive home
following years of war
just short of daybreak.

say what you may 
concerning the intimate parts
of the body of a man
I say they are the feet.
they are that fragility
that determine the walk 
of a man
and to them she concentrated
her full attention
while I tightly closed my eyes
to forbid I burn into
everlasting memory 
the images of this woman
my darling girl
rubbing away so many miles 
of Indian trails
wagon paths
and deer traces
across painful journeys 
to our place of reunion.

hearing naught
save her warm breathing
I eventually fell asleep
waking after full dark
to a single candle's glow.
I found she had bundled
my blistered feet
in a warm wrap
then joined me in sleep
at my side.

I am now an old man
marred by the indignities
of advanced age.
but i fondly recall
the ministry
my dear wife proffered  
by loving me 
from the ground up.

say what you may
concerning the joining together 
of a man and a maid
i insist the most tender affection 
ever i received
was the early morn
i returned following years 
of devastating combat
to be restored
by my darling girl
from toes
to heels
from instep to arch
by the anointing of her tears
and the gentleness of her hands
that i might once again
walk like a man.