Mom
A miniature portrait of a mother's face, where every line holds a book, a hope, a love — Alareer's tender counterpoint to the poetry of siege.
On Ma’s face There is a book And life’s preface. Between these lines and in these two caves Life dwells.
(excerpt)
About this poem
Dated July 30, 2012, “Mom” is one of Refaat Alareer’s shortest lyrics: a mother’s face read like a book, its lines dwelling places for hope, love, and life. The poem was collected posthumously in If I Must Die: Poetry and Prose (OR Books, 2024), compiled by Yousef M. Aljamal.
Sources
Connected in the archive
2 connected records2 records elsewhere in the archive are linked to this one, each by a piece of evidence you can read below.
written by — 1 record
- Refaat Alareerرفعت العرير
Evidence — From a recorded field in this archive: poetSlug: "refaat-alareer" → Refaat Alareer
named in this record — 1 record
One record names the other. A pointer for reading, not a claim that they belong to each other.
- Refaat Alareerرفعت العرعير
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Dated July 30, 2012, "Mom" is one of Refaat Alareer's shortest lyrics: a mother's face read like a book, its lines dwelling places for hope, love, and life.
Cite this page
Every claim above carries its sources — citation is the point.
- Chicago
“Mom — Refaat Alareer.” Poems, FALASTEEN.AI. Accessed 22 August 2026. https://falasteen.ai/poems/my-mother.- MLA
“Mom — Refaat Alareer.” Poems, FALASTEEN.AI, 2026, https://falasteen.ai/poems/my-mother. Accessed 22 August 2026.- BibTeX
@misc{falasteen-my-mother, title = {Mom — Refaat Alareer}, howpublished = {\url{https://falasteen.ai/poems/my-mother}}, organization = {FALASTEEN.AI — A Living Archive for Palestine}, year = {2026}, note = {Accessed 2026-08-22} }