{"id":4563,"date":"2026-02-09T18:00:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T18:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/?page_id=4563"},"modified":"2026-02-14T11:02:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T11:02:21","slug":"washing-my-feet","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/mmac-paintings\/washing-my-feet\/","title":{"rendered":"Washing my feet"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the embarrassment had passed,
\n<\/span><\/span>and all the shame that followed that long night,
\n<\/span><\/span>so that I dared to face the all-too tender spot,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

it wasn\u2019t the servitude that I recalled,
\n<\/span><\/span>or even my shock at the reversal
\n<\/span><\/span>of our traditional roles,
\n<\/span><\/span>but the intimacy, the soft touch
\n<\/span><\/span>of skin on skin, evoking memories
\n<\/span><\/span>of my mother bathing my small body
\n<\/span><\/span>when I was a child.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And as he knelt there, <\/span>his gentle caring
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>contrasting sharply with the evening’s
\n<\/span><\/span>loose talk of betrayal and the threat of death,
\n<\/span><\/span>I almost believed<\/span> he had power to wash away
\n<\/span><\/span>all my unworthiness, simply by applying
\n<\/span><\/span>cleansing water to my hands and head.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Even now, I feel my skin
\n<\/span><\/span>begin to glow as I recall
\n<\/span><\/span>his head bent low, his palm
\n<\/span><\/span>supporting, tenderly caressing
\n<\/span><\/span>my cracked and dirt-encrusted
\n<\/span><\/span>heel.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u00a9<\/span> Alwyn Marriage 2026<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the embarrassment had passed, and all the shame that followed that long night, so that I dared to face the all-too tender spot, it wasn\u2019t the servitude that I recalled, or even my shock at the reversal of our traditional roles, but the intimacy, the soft touch of skin…<\/p>\n

Continue readingWashing my feet<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":4538,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4563","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4563"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4675,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4563\/revisions\/4675"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/alwyn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}