The Burma Teak Sideboard

Here's a poem I wrote early this year.
We have these family get-togethers for New Year. This year we couldn't because my Dad was away. Wrote it for him and he loved it :-)

the burma teak sideboard holds
our lives against the dining room wall
its cabinets closed not locked
drawers shut holding candles
matches and trays
papers which we've put there
over the years
photographs too
but they're on top
displayed for love
clicked at the year's end
the conventional family
snapped together at home
identical faces in two pictures
the year my sister returned
with her family
from a sabbatical in detroit
we look younger all of us
we should it's been seven years
the second taken a year ago
faces so similar
a daughter
a niece
mother and aunt by
the same grace
the same tilt to the head
an older twinkle
mirrored in a son's laughing face
all happiness everyone
grandparents surrounded
sugared sparkle in the air
celebrations do that to one
and the smiles remain
on paper
forever.