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.

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 H

Hijra

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 Prophet Muhammad’s migration from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE, marking the start of the Islamic calendar and a turning point in Islamic history.

Detailed Definition
Hijra was not just physical relocation but a spiritual and communal rebirth—establishing the first Muslim society based on justice and brotherhood. In poetry, Hijra symbolizes leaving falsehood for truth, exile for faith, and fear for divine promise. Poets liken it to the soul’s journey from ego to surrender, using desert imagery, night travel, and covenant to frame it as the archetype of transformative migration.
Example
Example in poetry:
A historical poem: “Hijra is the Prophet’s migration—and Islam’s first act of resilience”; A modern verse: “Not escape—it is strategic retreat to regroup”; A minimalist reflection: “Journey as revolution”; A diasporic note: “My immigration is my hijra—seeking space to practice faith.”
Additional Notes
Hijra (622 CE) marks Muhammad’s migration from Mecca to Medina, escaping persecution and establishing the first Muslim community (ummah). It begins the Islamic calendar (AH—After Hijra), symbolizing rupture and renewal. The Ansar’s welcome models intergroup solidarity. In poetry, hijra signifies spiritual journey—Rumi’s “flight from self” echoes it. For literary scholars, hijra narratives explore exile, identity, and founding myths, paralleling other religious migrations (Exodus, Hijrat to Abyssinia), enriching comparative studies of sacred history and community formation.
Also Known As
Hijrah Migration
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