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 P

Prayer

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

A solemn request, thanksgiving, or expression of praise addressed to God or a deity.

Explore this topic in depth (2)

Faith and Doubt in Poetry — Poetry has long been a place for speaking towards God, searching for meaning, resisting certainty and giving shape to silence. This guide explores devotional traditions and poems of doubt while offering practical ways to read and listen across differing beliefs.

How to Read Poetry Aloud — Reading poetry aloud is not about sounding theatrical. It is a way of listening more closely to how sentences, lines, rhythms, sounds and silences work together.

Detailed Definition
Prayer is the fundamental act of communication in most religions, encompassing petition, adoration, confession, and contemplation. It is the direct line between the human and the divine. In poetry, prayer is both a subject and a form. Many poems are themselves prayers, using heightened language to express yearning, gratitude, or despair. The act of prayer provides a framework for exploring the dynamics of faith—doubt, supplication, silence, and the longing for a response—making the inner life of the spirit its central theme.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Rumi’s poetry, Prayer is conversation with Beloved: “Not words, but longing—Prayer is the ache itself”; In Jewish verse, Prayer structures day: “Shacharit, Mincha, Ma’ariv—Prayer braids time with holiness”; In Christian mysticism, Prayer is silence: “No petition—Prayer is resting in God’s gaze”; Contemporary poets frame Prayer as action: “Feeding the hungry—Prayer with hands and feet.”
Additional Notes
Prayer spans petition, praise, lament, and silence; it may be liturgical (fixed texts) or spontaneous; across traditions, it assumes a dialogic relationship with the divine; poets treat prayer as both subject and form—crafting verses that function as prayers themselves, using rhythm, address, and vulnerability to enact communion.
Also Known As
Salat Du'a Tefillah Orison
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