The Resting Place

generations of related memories
lie in this shoebox –
long gone aunties pose
with sweet self-conscious smiles
family groups relax at beachside picnics;
wedding parties wear their formal best;
my mother holds a tiny shawl-wrapped me

my family's resting place is here
not in some dusty mausoleum
or under shiny plaques of brass or
hidden in a wall

the family all together as should be
is in its final resting place with me