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 S

Sacred

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

That which is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; considered holy and worthy of veneration.

Explore this topic in depth (1)

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.

Detailed Definition
The sacred is the fundamental category in religious experience, representing that which is utterly distinct from the ordinary, profane world. It can be a place, a time, a person, an object, or a concept. The entire endeavor of religious poetry is often to point toward, describe, or evoke the sacred. Poets use language to create a sense of awe, mystery, and numinous presence, attempting to bridge the gap between human perception and the transcendent reality of the holy. The sacred is the ultimate subject and inspiration for much spiritual verse.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Indigenous poetry, Sacred is woven in land: “Mountain, river, stone—Sacred not because named, but because known”; In biblical verse, Sacred is set apart: “Holy ground—Sacred where God’s voice echoes”; In contemporary poetry, Sacred is attention: “Watch sunrise—Sacred in the act of seeing”; Poets warn against profaning Sacred: “Mine the mountain—Sacred becomes commodity.”
Additional Notes
Sacred denotes that which is set apart (qadosh in Hebrew) yet draws near; it evokes awe, not fear; poets distinguish sacred from merely “religious” by its power to disrupt, heal, or transform—whether in a temple, a forest grove, or a lover’s glance—always marked by a quality of depth, resonance, and unearned grace.
Other Meanings of “Sacred”
Also Known As
Holy Hallowed Consecrated Divine Numinous hallow'd
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