Notes on a Newborn Sleeping

For my nephew
Alexander Zareh Kapikian

You command our attention
Just by the tremor of your lips
Or by the beauty resulting
From the balanced and harmonious
Arrangement of your fingertips
As they reach for something
You must have seen
When you were feeding
Before you got drowsy
And your eyes closed
To your mother
But not to the world
Developing behind them
That you transmit to us
With your astonishing facial expressions
And all they communicate
Depict and describe

That we can only guess at
And infer by the depth
And extent of our love