A quiet notice V2Melody closes at midnight on , Spanish time.

Closes

A note from Richard

V2Melody will close at midnight on 20 January 2028

This site has been a retirement project in musical poetry: poems chosen with care and set to music, offered freely for as long as it felt right to keep the garden open.

The work no longer holds the place it once did in my life. I have gone as far with it as I wish to go. Like a sand mandala, it was made to be completed and then released. I am not attached to its permanence, and I do not believe any of it needs to last beyond the time it was given. The poems were already here before I arrived and began to experiment with them. They will still be here when these musical experiments, and indeed myself, have been swept away, like the sand of a mandala. Nothing has been lost.

I want a simpler end to my life, days of simple love and enjoyment with my wonderful wife of 20 years. The work of maintaining a server, the monitoring, and the residual obligations that come with keeping a site alive no longer fit that life.

From 4 November 2026 I will not be adding new poems or musical poems to the site.

The experimental music I am making now is on my Suno profile. Those pieces stay there, and are not added to this site.

Until midnight on 20 January 2028, Spanish time, everything remains available exactly as it is. That is when my VPS server contract comes to an end, and it will not be renewed. After that, the server will be switched off and the site will disappear.

The Mandala Is Finished explains this more fully.

Thank you to anyone who found a poem, a track, or a quiet moment here.

The pleasure was in the making.

Richard

Home › Glossary › Letter A

Asr

World Religion
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The afternoon Islamic prayer, performed before sunset, often associated with urgency and the fleeting nature of time.

Detailed Definition
Asr comes at a time of fatigue and distraction, making its observance a test of commitment. A famous hadith warns that losing Asr is like losing family and wealth. In poetry, Asr evokes melancholy, reflection, and the race against time. Poets use lengthening shadows, closing markets, or weary travelers to underscore life’s transience and the need to “pray before it’s too late”—linking the prayer’s timing to existential awareness.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poem on daily rhythm: “At Asr, the sun leans west—and so do I, bowing toward Mecca”; In a refugee camp verse, “We pray Asr on cracked concrete, but our prostration stitches sky to earth”; A lyrical meditation: “Asr is the hour when shadows grow long and the soul grows honest”; A contemporary contrast: “While the city shouts, I whisper Allahu Akbar—and time kneels.”
Additional Notes
Asr prayer occurs in the late afternoon, a time associated with urgency because the Prophet warned against missing it. Its timing—when shadows equal twice an object’s height—invites reflection on time’s passage. In Sufi poetry, Asr evokes the soul’s midday fatigue and need for renewal. Structurally, Asr consists of four rak’ahs and is often prayed communally, reinforcing social cohesion. For students of religion and literature, Asr’s placement in the daily cycle mirrors themes of vigilance and impermanence found in devotional verse across traditions.
Also Known As
Asar Afternoon Prayer
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