
Horizons
Dr. Alireza Bemanian • Odyssey, Volume 4, Chapter II
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Horizons to shrink, skylines shrivel,
and the vistas to wither,
Perceptual endeavors, perspicuity and eloquence,
to impede the figments of shortsightedness, impetuosity and hastiness.
The spontaneity and suddenness, is it fear or courage,
the vastness and nonfinite, limitless and stupendous inspirations,
are these mirages of perception, or the slants of frustration,
cavity of concepts, perspectives, and stands.
A merge and urge, autonomously or controllably,
to contrive, contrast, to contest and convene—
the scenes and outlooks, ratios and ranges,
and the gradual squeeze, crush, and jam.
Capitulations and inclines, skews and slopes,
the angles and leans, not to expose and reveal,
the flaunt and parade, strut and pose,
the streams, torrents, and rivulets, passages snare and catch.
The moves, attempts, gashes and crashes,
steps and starts, thrusts and plunges,
if plunder the thoughts, do pillage and loot,
do the moments standby, or the spins withdraw,
to merely, the march and trudge, trapse, grind, and slide.
Wiles, the slopes and ramps look level and smooth,
or, the destiny and faith, resent to rise, no dare to climb,
though the destination and climb, the summit and crown,
palm and pat, knead and mold.
crossing rainbows, the horizons to climb.
Alireza Bemanian • January 20, 2026 • © www.bemanian.com
Themes & Interpretations
The Subversion of the Sublime
The poem transforms the horizon from a metaphor for possibility into one of diminishing scope. The sublime is not merely unreachable; it is actively, violently retracting.
Internal Confinement
The reduction of potential is located within a “cavity of concepts”—a void within our foundational definitions, perspectives, and intellectual stances. The cognitive framework itself contains the limitation.
Diction of Visceral Compression
The verbs “squeeze, crush, and jam” enact a physical compression, replacing any sense of graceful decline with claustrophobic, immediate violence.
Action vs. Display
The performative self—flaunting and posing—is ultimately a mechanism of concealment and entrapment, snaring the soul rather than liberating it.
The Paradox of Ascent
The greatest barrier to reaching the horizon is often the deeply ingrained, internal resistance to the required effort. Transcendence requires crossing the ephemeral rainbow to climb the summit.

