On Ma’s face
There is a book
And life’s preface.
Between these lines
and in these two caves
Life dwells.
That line is hope.
That one is love.
That death
When she smiles,
She gives hope,
She gives love
She gives life,
To life.
July 30, 2012
From If I Must Die: Poetry and Prose by Refaat Alareer (OR Books, 2024), compiled by Yousef M. Aljamal. Copyright © 2024 by Refaat Alareer. Reprinted by permission of the Refaat Alareer estate.
I am yours as the summer air at evening is
Possessed by the scent of linden blossoms,
As the snowcap gleams with light
Lent it by the brimming moon.
Without you I'd be an unleafed tree
Blasted in a bleakness with no Spring.
Your love is the weather of my being.
What is an island without the sea?
Reprinted by permission of Louisiana State University Press from Beyond Silence: Selected Shorter Poems, 1948–2003 by Daniel Hoffman. Copyright © 2003 by Daniel Hoffman.
This poem appeared in Poem-A-Day on April 3, 2013. Browse the Poem-A-Day archive.
translated from the Spanish by Andrés Fernández
(to my sister)
(the deafening
sound
of the sea
comes
between
us both)
I say to her:
I think
we’re
drowned
she replies:
no
We’re not
drowned
I say to her:
we’re lying
side by side
at the bottom
of the sea
she replies:
no
We are standing
on the shore
I say to her:
I truly
believe
we’ve
already drowned
she replies:
no
We are
breathing
just fine
I say to her:
for me
no
air
comes
in
she replies:
I have air
for both of us
desacuerdo
(a mi hermana)
(el rugido
ensordecedor
del mar
se interpone
entre
las dos)
yo le digo:
creo
que estamos
ahogadas
ella responde:
no
No estamos
ahogadas
yo le digo:
yacemos
a la par
en el fondo
del mar
ella responde:
no
Estamos de pie
en la orilla
yo le digo:
de verdad
creo
que ya
nos ahogamos
ella responde:
no
Estamos
respirando
muy bien
yo le digo:
a mí
no
me
entra
aire
ella responde:
Yo tengo aire
para las dos
Copyright © 2025 by María Auxiliadora Álvarez. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 29, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.