because of your hands

[Ruth]

Nice poem.I think the opening states the case a bit too much.I'd call the poem "your hands" and do this

because I looked at them
and not your face,
the floor, my feet,
your hands

just a suggestion.

I like "covertly", maybe fingers is enough, rather than finger shapes.
I'd cut "softly to me" at the end of that verse.
Be nice to end at "back and forth", I think. Yet more ambivalence and the last 3 lines are edging dangerously close to Mills and Boon.

I see your point, thanks!
giving this one a complete overhaul

---

because I did not lift my face,
I watched your hands, arms, your elbows, bent and resting lightly on your thighs,
and I watched the floor,
but mostly I watched your hands.

I saw the line that suggests a creative lover,
the one that shows a clever mind, imagination, and
the mound by your thumb that may indicate passion.

as we spoke, I saw meanings in their shapes, and
on the floor, I watched our shadows, made from street and candle light in a darkened room
flicker and entwine.

you stood, you smiled and then your arms embraced me,
and held on until I let go of you.

then I was on my way, casting my own shadows, and
regarding my own hands.