There are noses to be considered. Lips to be coveted. Eyes to be adored. Hair to be admired. Chests to be explored. Voices which might induce hearts to quake.

But then there are nail beds. Sturdy hands elongated by fingertips capped with perfect nails. I could tell you half a dozen things about a man by the shape of his hands. But most of all, whether he were trustworthy, able and graceful.

I shall know him not by his words nor any of the artifices of beauty generally relied upon as the markers of a man’s worth, but by his hands, which silently reveal the most intimate truths.