The speaker is mourning a little brother they hoped to adopt but never got to keep. A photograph of Luke, also called Lucas, turns up unexpectedly in a closet, and it brings back all the longing the speaker thought was tucked away. The poem suggests the adoption fell through, and that the photos were put out of sight afterward, as if he had never been part of the family's story.
The speaker feels love, loss, and confusion all at once. They call him "baby brother" even though he now belongs to others, and they can't decide whether to smile or cry. The mood is tender and heavy, with a quiet sadness running underneath. The closing question, "How is it possible to be so in love with just a photograph?", lands as a sigh of disbelief. It shows how much feeling can attach to a person the speaker only knows through an image, and how that bond can still hurt.