Glance and Gaze
Dr. Alireza Bemanian • Odyssey, Volume 4
Click any stanza to explore its analysis, or use the icons above to navigate between views.
باز دارش دیده از جورِ جفایِ طالعِ سرگشتهِ مفروضِ عین
Chapter I: Glide and Float — epigraph
© Alireza Bemanian
Glance and gaze, skim and scan,
glint and shine, chandeliers, pendants and lusters,
the light sweep and span, bright rays reveal and unveil.
the gems to reflect, stones and rocks to demur.
Devotions and pieties, do tend to sustain,
smear and slur, totter, stumble,
pillage, plunder, don’t spurn and taunt,
horizons are inert, to reach and alter.
Vistas are torpid, prospects are passive,
steer the fortune, the kismet and faith,
avert and direct, deter and bundle,
curious and alert, curtains do often fade———
Matches, contests and derbies,
stages, rostra, the podia, constantly revert.
fairs and fetes, relapse, and regress,
trends and tending, shall always fulfil.
The coops and cages, bolsters and columns,
the boosts and augments, know how to knock,
the wind and twine, ballet of the curves,
tap and smite, beat and strike.
The bars to reinforce, slabs to tolerate,
plops and pops, do splash off,
while, rods and poles, bolster and sustain,
rainbows peer and peep, tweeting secretive fame.
Regard and cleanse, purge and reflect,
then, respect and concede to voice within,
the judgements gather, conceive and commit.
Streams flow, creeks overwhelm,
brooks wallow and wade,
still, the breeze, ceaselessly susurrate,
the gales skirmish, drafts and swings,
mumbles and mutters;
though, the soaring birds, foretell the whispers.
Journey and voyage, outing and passage,
have wooed to rally, restored or carried,
carriage and wagon, only to be made,
Courage and valor, shall, pursue the valley.
Alireza Bemanian • January 15, 2026 • © www.bemanian.com
Themes & Interpretations
The Spectrum of Attention
From glance to gaze, skim to scan — the poem maps perception as a graduated practice. The quality of attention determines what is revealed.
The Inertia Principle
Horizons are inert, vistas torpid, prospects passive. The world does not arrive — it must be reached. Agency is not optional; it is the condition of perception itself.
Structural Ambivalence
Cages and columns, bars and bolsters — the same structural forms can constrain or support. Moral valence is relational, shaped by the stance of the inhabiting self.
The Voice Within
The poem’s pivot: after cataloguing all external forces, the only reliable guide is interior. Purification precedes revelation; the voice within issues into decisive judgment.
Courage as Direction
The valley is not avoided but pursued. “Courage and valor shall pursue the valley” — valor is a verb, a direction of travel into difficulty rather than a quality passively held.